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Racine Ski Club•'. /YearBy Keith BrehmMaybe the first 30 years have been the hardest and the going will be downhill (no pun intended) from now on, but Racine Ski Club today has reason to be proud as it holds its 30th anniversary tournament at Mt. Tom.It certainly wasn’t easy to keep going all these years— there were some particularly rough periods like the early Forties when much of the club’s potential membership was in military service — but today the organization is at peak strength, with better than 50 members in its recreational unit, a strong junior club and a fine group of Class B and Class C riders to represent Racine in competition throughout the midwest.Today’s tourney, which has drawn the best field to compete here in years, is only one of several outstanding events which make up the anniversary celebration. In April Racine Ski Club will be host to the Central United States Ski Association convention and there’ll be a big anniversary dinner at that time — a sortof homecoming event; for the many persons who have carried the club through the first 30 years.Organized in 1926.In 1926 a. group of fellowsthat included William Wentzel,■James Peterson, Arthur J. Barth, Ted Sehommer and Hilton Hansen organized the Racine Ski Club, which, by the way, is a charter member of the Central U. S. Ski Association. With the co-operation of the Chamber of Commerce funds were raised to build the first slide on Windy Knoll, a site at the foot of Prospect Street.“Red Barth, who died at his home in Milwaukee Friday after a long illness, w*as the club’s first president and later became one of the best known figures in U. S. skiing. At various times he was president and secretary of the National Ski Association, and president and secretary of the Central Ski Association. One of the high points of his long sports career came on Dec. 14, 1947 when he was named a ski jumping judge for the 1948 winter Olympics at St. Moritz, Switzerland.The new club drew many topnotch riders as members and its own annual tournaments brought outstanding talent from close-by and distant points alike. Annually the tournaments were held at Windy Knoll, the last big one being the Finnish Relief Fund benefit meet in 1939.World War II depleted Racine Ski Club manpower but the club still held regular business sessions and kept things going until the bulk of the membership returned from service.Select Mt. Tom.ftThen in the spring of 1947 Racine Ski Club began a search for a new, larger ski hill. Mt. Tom, highest point in Racine county, was selected. It is located on County Trunk J between Highways II and 43, a few miles east of Burlington.Bv November of 1947 a slide had been erected and the first sanctioned Central U, S. Ski Association tourney was held in February of 1948. Annually since then the hill and the slid;have been improved, in 1954the club purchased the Mt. Tom orooerty — which it previously had leased — from William* iWar*rAn nf Rnrlina-fnn
Newspaper Details
Racine Journal Times Bulletin
Racine, Wisconsin, US
Sun, Jan 29, 1956
Page 14
Full Page
Clipped by
Uw -.
WI, USA 11 Jan 2021
Other Publications Near Racine, Wisconsin
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Racine Independent News
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