Still skiing at 70

There were no ski coaches, no recommended menus, no technicians to tune skis and no instruction booklets.

Back when Jim Gaddis raced, he was on his own. He was his own teacher, took care of his own skis, found his own transportation, planned his own meals and, very often, had to help prepare the very course he would race.

Which is a far cry from the regimen followed by today's world-class ski racers.

The high-tech training center in Park City monitors and programs every aspect of their training and health. They travel with a team of coaches, technicians and advisers, and they arrive to find courses ready to race.

It was not that easy back in the 1950s when Gaddis first ran gates. Not that racers held more passion for the sport than today's competing class, only that racing required a lot more of its competitors.

For starters, remembered Gaddis, "I don't ever remember having a coach. We learned by watching better skiers. It was all trial-and-error ... and there were a lot of errors."

Gaddis started skiing on the slopes of the Salt Lake Country Club at age 9. He will, in a few days, celebrate his 70th birthday. He ran his first gates at age 11 and realized at 14 he could be competitive.

He would, in fact, become one of Utah's most accomplished ski racers, winning at one time or another every junior Intermountain and local ski race. He was Intermountain Ski Racer of the Year four times — 1957, 1958, 1962 and 1963 — and captain of the University of Utah ski team, won the prestigious Snow Cup three consecutive times (1962-63-64), was the national giant slalom champion in 1962, finished in the top five in national events six times, won the NCAA combined (downhill and slalom), was an All-American in 1960-62 and was NCAA slalom champion in 1962.

He was a candidate for the 1960 Olympics but broke his leg prior to qualifying. He was certain to be on the 1964 team when politics intervened. He was rated among the top four or five best skiers in the United States prior to qualifications. Eight men were to be selected.

In what would proved to be a very controversial move, then-U.S. coach Bob Beattie skipped over Gaddis and selected far less successful skiers whose fathers were contributors to the team.

As mentioned, racing a half century ago wasn't easy.

"For my first race, I had skis but no bindings and no metal edges on the skis. I tied my boots on with leather straps. I finished dead last in that race. It made me want to try harder," he recalled.