Our biggest liability- that we’re such a small group, is also our strongest asset. We have shared something so rare: heel-free flight. We speak a language so few can truly understand. We are so bonded! For life!
So- if you feel these connections I hope you’ll take a moment and give back just a bit to the sport that is so deeply woven into your fabric. Amount doesn’t matter. Just get your name on the list. Join your friends. Let us know you’re out there and still dreaming of flight. If you name a coach or mentor who helped get you there, I’ll add them with your name. Just put it in the comments section.
Let’s do this.
Best,
Jeff
Curator USANS Story Project
DAVE NORBY
Madison, WI
Blackhawk Ski Club
1966 FIS Team, 1968 Olympic Team, 1970 FIS Team
Growing up in Madison, WI “The Land of the Prevailing Southerlies” we always had to put up with sketchy winter weather especially at the beginning of the year. One of my jumping buddies had a grandfather that also had jumped back in the early part of the 1900’s. And yes the grandfather’s name was Ole.
Ole and the local boys built a jump that faced southeast. The longest jump was about 40 feet. When you approached it through the woods you came up to the back of the jump. According to Ole, one night in early winter it had gotten warm and foggy. The next morning the north winds blew and it got cold and sunny. Ole got his buddies together after school and headed out to the jump. They looked at the track and it was a sheet of ice. Nobody wanted to go first so Ole said, “Get out of the way, I’ll go!” The inrun was fast so he jumped as hard as he could, got out over the landing hill and there wasn’t a flake of snow on it. Ole told me, “They took me home on a sled!”
My how times have changed! And all for the better.
