Star locale: Celebrities call Park City and Deer Valley home

Though not a doctor, gold-medal-winning skier Picabo Street certainly is familiar with them, having had reconstructive knee surgery and once breaking her leg in nine places in a 70 mph crash. She came back to win the downhill in the 1998 Nagano Winter Games. She also won silver in 1994.

Several other professional athletes call Park City home, including current Oakland Raiders tackle Barry Sims, eight-time National Hockey League all-star Luc Robitaille and six-time NBA All-Star Lou Hudson.

Hudson knew nothing about Park City until he arrived one day in 1981 to visit an old college girlfriend.

"I came out for a week to 10 days and really liked it and stayed," said the Greensboro, N.C., native.

"I was born on the East Coast. I have lived on both coasts. I never lived in the mountains. I never lived in a small town. That was the attraction," he said.

Hudson learned to ski, served on the City Council and was even named Citizen of the Year. A stroke a couple of years ago slowed him down, but he vows to hit the slopes again soon.

Besides Romney, a few political types who occasionally make the news have homes in the Park City area.

Clark T. Randt Jr., the current U.S. ambassador to China, has a vacation home in Deer Valley.

Lawyer Gordon C. Strachan found himself caught up in Watergate when he worked for President Richard Nixon's chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman. Strachan was indicted along with other White House staff members in 1974, but all charges against him were dropped the next year.

He currently is a lawyer in Park City and has been involved with the local Republican Party.

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Contributing: Lucinda Dillon Kinkead

E-mail: romboy@desnews.com