17 Facts About Willy Schaeffler

Wilhelm Josef "Willy" Schaeffler was a German-American skiing champion, winning coach, and ski resort developer.

In development circles, Schaeffler is known for his role as a founder of the Professional Skiers Association, as an early developer of the Colorado ski area, Arapahoe- or A-Basin, as well as for the development of Vail, Whistler Blackcomb, Mineral King and Independence Lake.

Willy Schaeffler was born in Kaufbeuren, Bavaria, on 13 December 1915.

At 20, Willy Schaeffler was named to the German Olympic team for 1936, but broke both legs before the IV Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and was unable to compete.

When World War II broke out in 1939, Willy Schaeffler was drafted into the German Army as a "political unsafe," because of a long family history of opposition-politics, and eventually ended up in a penal battalion on the Russian Front.

In June 1948, Willy Schaeffler wrote to Larry Jump, who was setting up the Arapahoe Basin ski area in Colorado, looking for work as a ski instructor.

Jump hired Willy Schaeffler, who moved with his new wife to Colorado that year, and introduced the alpine skiing technique known as "short-swing," which remained the standard beginner training technique across North America for decades.

In 1957, Willy Schaeffler became the Director of the Ski Events for the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California, and was responsible for designing the alpine courses.

In 1970, Willy Schaeffler was named as the Director of the US Alpine Ski Team; Willy Schaeffler held this position until 1973.

Not surprisingly, Willy Schaeffler was often referred to as "America's Most Successful Ski Coach".

Willy Schaeffler was largely responsible for moving the US National Ski Team to its permanent headquarters in Park City, Utah, in 1974 and established the first national ski training center here.

Willy Schaeffler laid out large parts of the area, including several runs on Ski Team Ridge, known as the US Ski Team training runs.

Willy Schaeffler developed a special intensive training program for his skiers, plus, he planned and proposed a sports medicine program, safety mechanisms, and a traveling medical team for his athletes.

Willy Schaeffler was one of the founders of Professional Ski Instructors of America, separating instructor training within the USSA into an independent organization.

In 1968, Willy Schaeffler received USSA's highest award for outstanding service to the sport of skiing, named the Julius Blegen Award.

Willy Schaeffler was inducted into Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1972 and the National Ski Hall of Fame two years later.

At age 74, Willy Schaeffler died at St Luke's hospital in Denver in April 1988, after enduring five open-heart surgical procedures and a pacemaker implanted over the previous seventeen years.