Buddy Werner
| Buddy Werner | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Wallace Jerold Werner |
| Born |
February 26, 1936 Steamboat Springs, Colorado, United States |
| Died | April 12, 1964 (aged 28) Trais Fleur slope near St. Moritz, Switzerland |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
Wallace Jerold "Buddy" Werner (February 26, 1936 – April 12, 1964) was an American alpine ski racer in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Born and raised in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Werner was the middle child of Ed "Pop" and Hazel Mae "Hazie" Werner. He and his siblings were accomplished skiers, and competed in both alpine and Nordic events on Howelsen Hill. Werner raced for the University of Colorado in the mid-1950s, making the 1956 Olympic team in his sophomore year, joining his elder sister, Skeeter Werner.
Werner was selected for the U.S. Olympic Team three times: 1956, 1960, & 1964. While still a teenager, he placed eleventh in the downhill in 1956 at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, and was the only American to finish. His best chance to medal was in 1960 at Squaw Valley, but he broke his right leg while slalom training in Aspen in December 1959, just two months before the games.
Eleven months earlier at age 22, he was the first from outside Austria and Switzerland to win the famed Hahnenkamm downhill race in Kitzbühel, Austria. The only American to win since was Daron Rahlves in 2003, on a fog-shortened course. Three Canadians, Ken Read, Steve Podborski, and Todd Brooker, have won the race, and American A. J. Kitt was a runner-up in 1992.
...
Wikipedia