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| IT ALWAYS STARTS WITH DAD. Gary Rasumussen’s father Wilbert (in sling) with Finnish jumper Pentti Heino at the 1950 World Championships hosted in Lake Placid.. See caption, below. |
GARY RASMUSSEN
Ishpeming Ski Club
Ishpeming, MI
In the summer of 1971 the Ishpeming Ski Club proceeded with a project to tear down Suicide Hill’s old wood scaffold and build a brand new steel tower. This would be the first complete overhaul of the hill since it was built in 1925. The $52,000.00 project was a big deal for our small towns at the time and much of the help was done by volunteer iron workers and apprentice labor. I was 12 at the time. As I watched the construction progress I was often told where to go so I wasn’t in danger. The first time I was allowed to climb a ladder upon the structure was when they had a deck on the take off. As the tower took shape I was able to help by grabbing the end of a plank and hauling it up to it’s final resting place.
Just to put in perspective the difference between kids those days and now, I will mention my greatest memory from that project. The decking and railings were finally complete. My dad, Wilbert Rasmussen and I were installing the steps and we ran out of wood right near the top of the tower. Dad says, Gary there’s a piece of 2 by 3 in the back of the Scout. Go get that for me. We were not going home without finishing what we started to do. The Scout was on the very bottom of the hill. How many 12 year olds today are going to just run down a 90 meter slide under construction then through the woods by the landing just to get a piece of wood. Zip zoom, done.
I took my first jumps on Suicide the following winter. At 13, I was the youngest to jump the hill at that time. Now it seems that 10 to 12 year olds jump it all the time and call it a nice little hill. My dad also took his first jump in 14 years. That did not go well. His last jumps taken in 1958 were for a successful bid to make the 58 World Championship Team. I’m pretty sure I took around a thousand jumps on Suicide over the next twenty years. None as thrilling as the first few. Every time I hit that piece of 2 by 3 I thought about my dad.
When I first started to jump at Suicide Bowl, Ralph Bietila and Coy Hill were still sliding a few off now and then. Joe Perrault my dad and all the old Hall of Famer’s were like Lombardi’s Packers to Ishpeming and Negaunee in the decades to follow. What a great childhood those guys gave me.
My dad and Ralph both died in the Veteran’s Facility in Marquette. Coy and Roxy Lawson came to visit them just before my dad was inducted into the U.P. Sports hall of Fame in 2010. He passed four days after his induction. Did those old jumpers ever light up that building for an hour or so. In all honesty, this could be a never ending story. Hope you enjoy this short clip.
EIDITOR’S NOTE-
Wilbert Rasmussen was inducted into the US Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 1988. See bio- CLICK HERE
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| The caption on the back of the photo, above. |
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| Suicide Hill in the 1940’s. A long run from the top to the bottom… especially on 12 year old legs. |
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| PRACTICING DIPLOMACY WITH MEMBERS OF THE RUSSIAN TEAM. USA masters jumper Gary Rasmussen, center, with Dave Edlund (L) and Mark Miles (R) with members of the Russian team.. “They traded jackets and “jet fuel.” |
