Pine Mo u
i k J u S m n p i tn a
2 — The Daily News, Iron Mountain-Kingsford, Michigan Saturday, February 27, 2021
The Daily News, Iron Mountain-Kingsford, Michigan Saturday, February 27, 2021 — 3
Pine Mountain Ski Jump
Kiwanis Ski Club soars into the future BREITUNG TOWNSHIP — A $3 million renovation of the historic Pine Mountain ski jump has the Kiwanis Ski Club poised to host World Cup events. The only comparable ski jump in North America is in Lake Placid, N.Y., where the 1980 Winter Olympics took place. The renovation brings the ski hill to current International Ski Federation, or FIS, standards so the site can continue to host Continental Cup competitions as well as World Cup events. The Kiwanis Ski Club has twice hosted World Cup jumping, in 1996 and 2000. Steel work for the 2020 project was done by Gund-
Pine Mountain distance records
Armin Kogler, Austria, 399 feet in 1980
Jerry Martin, U.S., 345 feet in 1971.
lach Champion of Iron Mountain. Everything above the steel work was done by Top Speed, which is a Slovenian-based company. Top Speed also installed refrigerated cooling lines, which will make slush and snow on the scaffold itself, saving club members from spending days and weeks packing snow into the track. On the very top of the jump, a box-like structure houses a robot that manually cuts the track from the top of the scaffold to the bottom. A warming shelter at the top of the new stairs structure has also been completed. An elevator on the back side of the jump will be installed in the future. Masahiko Harada, The $3 million in fundJapan, 459 feet in 1996 ing was provided by the
Torger Tokle, U.S., 289 feet in 1942 Great Lakes Sports Commission in agreement with the First National Bank & Trust of Iron Mountain along with other banking partners Northern Interstate Bank, First National Bank of St. Ignace, Range Bank and State Savings Bank. This loan must be repaid to the GLSC to keep the fund sustainable to aid other projects in northern Michigan. The club is actively fundraising to repay the
loan. Those interested in contributing can go to www.soaringimtothefuture.org or mail taxdeductible donations to: The Kiwanis Ski Club, P.O. Box 475, Iron Mountain, MI 49801. Gundlach Champion of Iron Mountain was the general contractor for the renovation. Other integral services were provided by Bacco Construction, IDI Architecture-Engineering-Consulting of Marquette, Coleman Engineering, Top Speed Technology, MJ Electric, Beaulier Buildings, Northern Landscape and UP Fabrication. Dickinson County Healthcare System donated $25,000 to the ski club as a signature sponsor of 2021 Continental Cup, which was canceled due to pandemic restrictions. “In a year when things
looked like it was going to be really terrible, for an organization like the Dickinson County Healthcare System to step up and do what they did, set a great example of the community getting behind something that’s been a tradition for 82 years or more,” Kiwanis Ski Club Corresponding Secretary Susie Fox said. “It’s more important than ever that the community realizes what they have here,” Fox added. “ The only way it’s going to continue is if they continue to support the organization that puts it on.” For more information, go to the Kiwanis Ski Club Facebook page or www.kiwanisskiclub.com. The club has souvenirs available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/ KiwanisSkiClub.
1939, Bob roecker, 257 feet 1941, alf engen, 267 feet. 1942, torger tokle, 289 feet 1949, Joe Perrault, 297 feet. 1950, Billy olson, 297 feet 1960, Jim Brennan, 316 feet 1962, Pekka tirkkonen, 317 feet 1965, John Balfanz, 325 feet. 1968 adrian Watt, 337 feet 1971 Jerry Martin, 345 feet. 1978, Gebhart aberer, 371 feet. 1980, armin Kogler, 399 feet. 1991, Werner schuster, 400 feet 1996, Masahiko Harada, 459 feet. 2002, Kalle Keituri, 459 feet 2006, stefan Kaiser, 468 feet 2009, stefan thurnbichler, 471 feet. 2020, clemens aigner, 472 feet
AmericInn by Wyndham (Formerly known as the Country Inn & Suites)
• Suites Available • 24-Hour Coffee, Cookies, Candy-Complimentary • Heated Indoor Pool • Whirlpool
906-774-1900
Thank you for the nomination!
2005 S. Stephenson
Iron Mountain, MI
4 — The Daily News, Iron Mountain-Kingsford, Michigan Saturday, February 27, 2021
Pine Mountain Ski Jump
Retired dentist chronicles local ski jumping history By THERESA PROUDFIT IRON MOUNTAIN — The story of ski jumping at Pine Mountain is told in a b o o k p u b lis h ed s ev er al years ago by Dr. John Dougoveto. The retired dentist’s 15 years of work can be found in “A History of Ski Jumping in the Iron Mountain-Kingsford Area,” a rich volume of stories and photographs. “I always felt there should be a written history of Pine Mountain. I’ve felt that ever since I was a kid,” said Dougoveto, who was a junior and Class B ski jumper from 1958 to 1967. The in-depth history includes how jumping started in Dickinson County, beginning with the early hills such as Devil’s Slide, Valley Hill — later known as Miron — and Big and Little Lightning, plus the first jumps at Pine Mountain. The book includes results of every tournament by date, as well as acknowledgments whenever Kiwanis Ski Club jumpers finished in the top 10. It also recognizes athletes from the local area who not only jumped at Pine Mountain but who represented the
Three Kiwanis Ski Club jumpers were members of the 1960 U.S. Olympic Ski team. From left are Butch Wedin, Dick Rahoi and Willie Erickson. area in tournaments throughout the world. Stories about the “Father of Pine Mountain,” Harold Eskil; the Flying Bietilas; Art Torkle; Walter Brottlund; Art Devlin; Joe Perrault; John Bednarz; Willie Erickson; Butch Wedin; Cussie Rahoi; Jim House; Jack Paquette; Mark Konopacke; and Eric Hiatt. Events such as reconstruction after the 1975 fire, and when Therese Altobelli in 1978 became the first woman to jump off giant Pine Mountain. Dougoveto said he ended
PROTECH Home Of The 10
JOHN DOUGOVETO up with so much information, some material simply didn’t make the cut. “If I included everything,” he said, “you would need a wheelbarrow to carry it home.”
Lube & Wash, Inc
Minute Oil Change!
No Appointment Tire Rotations!
FREE WASH With Wiper Blades, Synthetic Oils
FREE Engine Light Scan
WE REPLACE Headlights & Taillights
Your Time Is Too Valuable To Make & Keep Appointments 800 S Carpenter Ave • Kingsford, MI 906•774•0800 • www.protechlubeandwash.com
His favorite tournament was in 1960, when the eight-man U.S. Olympic team was in town and included three Kiwanis Club members — Dick Rahoi, Willie Erickson and Butch Wedin. Although Dougoveto acknowledges that changing styles make comparing jumpers over the decades difficult, he thinks when you look at the records, “Willie Erickson and Mark Konopacke stand head and shoulders above anyone else.” Both men were threetime national champions and competed on Olympic and FIS teams. “Next best was probably Dick Rahoi. He was on two Olympic teams, one FIS team and he was a national champion,” he said. The Kiwanis Ski Club at one point was the top jumping club in the United States, according to Dougoveto. “All the great ski jumpers from the United States have jumped at Pine Mountain at one time or another. At one time, the Pine Mountain ski tournament was the biggest winter sporting event in the
Kingsford ski jumping brothers Mark, left, and Mike Konopacke in 1979. entire midwestern United States. Many world distance record-holders have jumped here,” Dougoveto said. “I’m told 22 to 23 foreign countries have jumped at Pine Mountain.” Dougoveto also gives credit to past Iron Mountain newspaper reporters for tracking the events over the decades. “This book would of never been possible without two people — Buck Erickson, who kept meticulous
records of everything that happened at Pine Mountain, and Dick Ferris, who took quality ski jumping pictures. Before Dick Ferris, it was hard to come by a good profile pictures of a ski jumper at Iron Mountain,” he said. Since its publication, the book has attracted interest “all over the country,” Dougoveto said. Some copies remain. For more information, contact Dougoveto at 906-7744526.
The Daily News, Iron Mountain-Kingsford, Michigan Saturday, February 27, 2021 — 5
Pine Mountain Ski Jump
Community support was crucial to Depression-era project By JIM ANDERSON News Editor IRON MOUNTAIN — From 1935 through 1943, the U.S. government spent more than $11 billion through the Works Progress Administration , employing millions of workers to carry out public works projects. One of those projects was the Pine Mountain ski jump, which has been the site of national and international tournaments since 1939. Through the decades, changes have evolved in ski jumping and the hill itself. The key elements, however, have been constant —dedicated volunteers, daring athletes and spellbinding beauty. Some 85 years ago, the spectacular view from Pine Mountain confirmed a local politician’s hunch that a giant ski slide would serve the community well. Harold Eskil, a Dickinson County chairman who assisted WPA planning, took time in 1968 to offer his recollections of the Pine Mountain project. When the Roosevelt administration announced that recreation projects could be eligible for WPA funds, Eskil acted on a “dormant dream” to build a big
ski slide. “ I knew the spot,” he wrote, “ t h e northwest end of P i n e Mountain.” H e E.G. described KINGSFORD a hike off an old logging road to approach the location: “Alone in zero weather, on snowshoes in snow three or more feet deep, I climbed the northwest face of Pine Mountain. It was a difficult, lengthy climb to the top, but from the top I knew I had the right place for the ski slide. At the top of Pine Mountain, I was amazed at the scenery — the miles of it visible in every direction. With a good road to the top, what a scenic sight-seeing area this could become — with the slide and the ski jump adjacent to it.” The Depression-era project was no sure sell. The proposed $26,000 budget for the scaffold alone would equate to about $500,000 today. Eskil, a Breitung Township supervisor and a 1913
graduate of Iron Mountain High School, shared Pine Mountain’s panoramic view with dozens of officials, including Ford Motor Co. plant superintendent Fred Johnson and charcoal briquette inventor E.G. Kingsford. “Everyone was astonished and felt that a major beauty spot had been found,” he wrote. “There was much interest created to develop this area as a tourist attraction and recreational center.” Eskil went to bat for the project under the sponsorship of Breitung Township. Later, the Keweenaw Land Association deeded the property to Dickinson County, in exchange for retaining mineral rights and being freed from taxes. Site preparation and scaffold planning began — the slide would be the highest artificial one in the world — but the project was nixed in late 1936 by the Lansing office of the WPA. The community rallied. “There was such an avalanche of letters,telegrams, and telephone calls to Lansing — as well as complaints and criticisms from the public — that the Lansing office of the WPA reconsidered,”
Eskil wrote. Still, the WPA wanted a smaller project. “I was ... told that plans for the 165-foot scaffold would have to be cut to 80 feet,” Eskil recalled. “But I did not want just another ski slide — I wanted the highest.” The WPA finally agreed to provide labor if Dickinson County would furnish the material, at a cost of about $11,000 ($210,000 today). The county board approved, much to Eskil’s delight. “Dickinson County had won!” he exclaimed. “They had not only succeeded in obtaining approval from Lansing WPA — it had united the majority of people of Dickinson Coun-
ty whole-heartedly behind the project. The first defeat had resulted in new enthusiasm to put that giant ski slide on Pine Mountain.” As has often been the case in the history of Giant Pine, local talent was instrumental in seeing the dream through. Among others, Eskil cites the following: scaffold engineering by George Wallner of Ford Motor; construction supervision by Leon Mongrain of Ford; surveying by road commission engineer Henry Wagner; concrete oversight by Wagner and WPA engineer Lawrence Hansen; fabrication by the Dickinson County Road Commission shop; road construction by Wilfred
Lagerfeldt, Breitung Township road commissioner. According to Eskil, WPA wages at the time of the slide’s construction totaled $44 a month for a six-day work week (about $840 a month today). On Feb. 18, 1939, the eve of the inaugural tournament, the Iron Mountain News reported that slightly more than $70,000 ($1.34 million today) had been spent on WPA projects in the Pine Mountain area, nearly $61,000 of which was for labor. That work included the road, scaffold, landing hill, parking lot and a few amenities. A crowd of 10,000 to 15,000 was anticipated, the largest ever for a sports event in the Upper Peninsula.
ONE STOP MILL SHOP!
RAY’S FEED & SUPPLY Come In And See Our Selection! Your Car Has Needs Too! 555 S. Carpenter Ave • Kingsford • 779-1990
120 9th Ave. Norway MI 906-563-5323
• ANIMAL FEED & BIRD SEED • BIRD FEEDERS • SALT LICKS • CLOTHING • GREETING CARDS • WIDE VARIETY OF GIFT ITEMS
6 — The Daily News, Iron Mountain-Kingsford, Michigan Saturday, February 27, 2021
Pine Mountain Ski Jump
In 1990, a reflection on 25 years of tournaments ... Editor’s note: In February 1990, about a month before his death from heart failure, Ron Kramer of The Daily News shared memories of his Pine Mountain coverage since 1966. ... This weekend is a special occasion for me. It marks my 25th anniversary of covering the Pine Mountain ski jumping tournament. I have witnessed my share of “great moments” at Pine Mountain during the past 24 years. One of the highlights has to be the performance by Kingsford’s Mark Konopacke in the 1985 Budweiser Classic-Dick Ferris Memorial. Konopacke, a member of the U.S. Ski Team, won both the
Terry Campbell of Kingsford, a promising junior class jumper, took a nasty spill in the 1973 tournament and wound up in the hospital. He recovered and will be doing the commentary for WMIQ Radio on their tournament coverage. The finest tournament was probably the 1980 PreArmin Kogler of Austria signs autographs for Olympic event when the young ski fans in 1980. Austrian Olympic Team Saturday and Sunday com- Robert (Butch) Wedin was captured the first six places the next winner in 1961. petitions in one of the best before going on to dominate One of the worst showings by a local jumper the Winter Games in Lake moments was in 1987 when Placid, N.Y. The big names at Pine Mountain. He was only the third Iron John Kusz of Ironwood suf- were Armin Kogler, Toni Innauer and Hubert Neuper, Mountain-Kingsford Kiwanis fered serious injuries in a all Olympic or World Cup fall. He was in a coma for Ski Club jumper to win a winners. Pine Mountain tournament. several days at Marquette In 1978, Therese AltobelGeneral Hospital but recovJohn Bednarz was the first when he registered a double ered and returned to his job li Chartier of Iron Mountain made history by becoming with Postal Service. victory in the 1952 event.
the first female to jump on a 90-meter hill in the U.S. The Russians came to town in 1975, the only appearance at Pine Mountain by skiers from the Soviet Union. Vladimir Frolov of the USSR beat out teammate Gari Napalkov for first place that year. I can still see Adrian Watt of Duluth soaring 337 feet in the 1968 Olympic tryouts to set a distance record at Big Pine. Little Jerry Martin of Minneapolis, one of the most popular jumpers at Pine Mountain, added to the history of the tournament when he leaped 345 feet in 1971 to set another distance mark. The “King of the Hill”
has to be Armin Kogler, who broke the 385-foot record he established in 1979 by flying 399 feet in the 1980 Pre-Olympic meet. An added attraction at the 1973 tournament was kite-flying exhibition by Laird Trepp, an alpine skier from Iron Mountain. Trepp came off the scaffold on a kite and landed in the parking lot the first day. On Sunday, he had problems coming down the slide and crashed into a pickup truck at the top of the hill. The fun-loving jumpers from Chicago’s (it’s really Fox River Grove, Ill.) Norge Ski Club have also performed the triple jump — three skiers coming down the hill at the same time.
The Daily News, Iron Mountain-Kingsford, Michigan Saturday, February 27, 2021 — 7
Pine Mountain Ski Jump
Erickson, Ferris, Kramer delivered decades of coverage IRON MOUNTAIN — The early history of the Pine Mountain ski jumping tournament was chronicled by three special contributors — E.O. (Buck) Erickson, Dick Ferris and Ron Kramer. Erickson, a sports editor and editor at The Daily News, served as publicity director of the Pine Mountain tournaments from the inaugural meet in 1939 until his death in 1974. He was known as “Mr. Pine Mountain.” His colorful publicity releases on the tournament were sent throughout the Midwest and other areas of the country. He also arranged the lodging accommodations for the press corps. As a result of his efforts, the Pine Mountain tournaments attracted the largest media coverage of any competition in the nation. He edited the special
BUCK ERICKSON
DICK FERRIS
Pine Mountain ski jumping sections in The Daily News from 1939 to 1968. He was also responsible for bringing the first foreign ski jumpers to Pine Mountain. He was enshrined in the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1974 for “his tremendous contribution to the growth of the ski sport.” Ferris, a Daily News photographer, covered Pine Mountain action with his cameras from 1948 through 1983 — a total of 35 years. Many of his photos are on display at the National Ski Hall of Fame in Ishpeming. His advice was sought
$10 off any $100 repair $20 off any $200 repair $30 off any $300 repair
Spring Auto
9List
Brake Inspection Tire Rotation Serpentine Belt New Plugs/Wires US-2 Iron Mountain, MI (Next to Hardees)
Phone (906) 774-1040 • www.ironmountainauto.com
by photographers from other areas of the country when they came here to cover Pine RON KRAMER Mountain tournaments. Ferris died in 1984. Kramer, a Daily News writer and photographer, covered Pine Mountain ski jumping tournaments for 25 years, from 1966 through 1990. He coordinated production of the newspaper’s pre-tournament editions; served as the tournament media contact; and spent countless hours researching and reporting on the event. Regarded by Kiwanis Ski Club officials as “the second Buck Erickson of ski jumping,” he was also an active promoter of the Kiwanis Junior Ski Club. He was with the newspaper until his death in 1990.
Dick Ferris/Daily News photo
DAILY NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER Dick Ferris snapped this spectacular spill by Ole Willman at the 1970 Pine Mountain tournament. Willman only sustained minor injuries. The picture received the sweepstakes award in a Michigan Associated Press photo contest and was transmitted around the world. Ferris covered the Pine Mountain action with his cameras from 1948 through 1983.
8 — The Daily News, Iron Mountain-Kingsford, Michigan Saturday, February 27, 2021
Pine Mountain Ski Jump
Theresa Proudfit photo
Austrian ski jumper Clemens Aigner had a weekend to remember at the 2020 Continental Cup at Pine Mountain. Aigner not only won both competitions, he broke the hill record Feb. 16 with a ride of 472 feet.
FINAL WEEK OF SALE!
9:8'9< 5<*:88< < 7816<*367:;3 < 3; < 8917 9;6< 8:"</ ! /
+
2 3 1< :7;'<,$9< 7163;)9< :8< :08< 3; 7;'<*99 1
-8:;<.:0;637; 7;'1 :8 < <-8:;< 7 98< <.9;:"7;99
2,.<2%% 44< (%2,-(*4 ( *,( *
-* 4 (
+ <45<469 $9;1:;<2 95 -8:;<.:0;637;
/+ <45<%38 9;698<2 95 7;'1 :8
4( ,
,2 % 4< 2.- <.2 ,
!/ /<4:06$< 545<+ -8:;<.:0;637;
/ &&<45<469 $9;1:;<2 95 -8:;<.:0;637;
!##5!& 5/!/ <<<< <<<< & 5## 5++&&<
; 7" 5):"
www.slumberland.com $$ # $!"# $!"# $$ $!!#
! "$ $ $$ $$ $ $ $ $ " # # ""!$$
2))911< :08<3)):0;6<+ #< 76$<:08<": 7 9< 3; 7;'<2