2014 Ski Hall of Fame Inductees
Stowe, Vt. — This October, the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum inducts five new members into its Hall of fame.
The inductees include a downhill racer, a ski jumper, a snowboard racer, the founder of a hat-making company and the youngest man ever named to the U.S. Olympic team.
The three men and two women join 54 members, which includes such names as mountaineer and skier Jan Reynolds, Burton Snowboards founder Jake Burton and Virginia and Gordon Cochran, founders of Cochran’s Ski Area. The inductees will be honored at a ceremony at the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center in Stowe on Oct. 19 at 4:30 p.m.
This year’s inductees are:
James Barrett “Jim” Galanes grew up skiing in Brattleboro, Vt. when the best American skiers were training in the Putney/Brattleboro area. The three-time national champion competed in three Olympics – 1976 on the Nordic Combined team and 1980 and 1984 on the Nordic team. His best Olympic finish was eighth in 1984 in the four-person relay with Bill Koch, Tim Caldwell and Dan Simoneau.
After his competitive career, he turned to coaching, first with the U.S. National Team from 1986-1992 and then at the Stratton Mountain School from 1992-1995. From 1995-2006, he headed up the Alaska Pacific University program, training ground of Kikkan Randall. This unique program provided training for Nordic skiers of all levels and allowed high level athletes training opportunities within their community.
Galanes recently returned to Vermont to work at Edgewise in Stowe on building the Nordic business. His homecoming corresponded to the Museum’s Kick and Glide exhibit, on which he collaborated with the Museum. He wrote: “To this day, I feel that Vermonters are responsible for laying a foundation for the training, technique and teaching theories and philosophies that are moving our sport forward toward excellence today.”
Mike Holland
Raised in Norwich, Vt., Mike Holland spent seven seasons on the World Cup Circuit as a jumper. For more than a decade, Upper Valley jumpers — from Ford Sayre to the Hastings and Holland families — dominated U.S. jumping. Holland specialized in the Large Hill (120 meters) and captured three national titles there and one on the Normal Hill (90 meters). He is the only American to have set the World Ski Flying distance record. In Planica, Yugosalvia, on March 15, 1985, Holland jumped 186 meters, breaking the existing record. He held the record for 27 minutes when the World Champion Matti Nykaenen set a new world record. Currently, Holland resides in the Upper Valley and runs his own business.
Anabel Moriarty
The Moriarty family – Kermit, Anabel, Darwin, and Marvin – story shows how skiing changed Vermont. The family began taking in Stowe skiers in 1948; the war was over and the skiing industry was growing. In 1952, they added a bunkhouse, which was full for the whole season. The children skied with the Mount Mansfield Ski Club and benefited from Stowe’s world-class training and American International Races.
Anabel Moriarty started her iconic hat business in 1956, and it grew into a phenomenon. By 1962, she had two at-home knitters and two knitting machines (described as more like looms), and they made 3,000 hats. By 1965, 10 knitters made 40,000 hats.
Today, the Museum has the remaining stock from the original business, which was purchased by Ed Morrison in 1985.
Marvin Moriarty
Marvin Moriarty was the youngest man ever named to the U.S. Olympic team. At 17, he trained for the Olympic slalom. During his competitive career, he retired Mt. Tremblant’s Ryan Cup and competed and won countless races nationally and internationally. He stayed with the ski industry acting as a rep for Beconta and Nava boots among others. He helped to grow the Moriarty hat business by adding a line of ski pants designed for racers and by placing the iconic Moriarty shamrock logo on the outside.
Betsy Shaw
Betsy Shaw started skiing at age 3 with the Bromley Outing Club and turned to snowboarding at age 20. After a ski racing career, she finished second in her first snowboard race which initiated a 13-year snowboarding career. Shaw trained in Manchester, Vt., then headquarters of Burton Snowboards, before heading out West and to Europe with the World Pro Snowboard team coached by Rob Roy. She won the U.S. Open slalom in 1991, the World Title for Giant Slalom in 1995, and bronze and silver medals in the 1995 ISF World Championships in Davos, Switzerland. At age 32, she competed in the 1998 Nagano Olympics in Giant Slalom where snowboarding debuted.
