Wallace "Buddy" Werner (February 26, 1936 - April 12, 1964) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 ski racer

Alpine skiing

Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...

 in the 1950s and early 1960s. Born and raised in Steamboat Springs

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

The city of Steamboat Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Routt County, Colorado, United States. The city is also known as "Steamboat," "The Boat," or "Ski Town USA". As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,088.The city is an...

, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, Werner and his siblings were accomplished skiers, and competed in both alpine

Alpine skiing

Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...

 and Nordic

Nordic skiing

Nordic skiing is a winter sport that encompasses all types of skiing where the heel of the boot cannot be fixed to the ski, as opposed to Alpine skiing....

 events on Howelsen Hill. Werner raced for the University of Colorado

Colorado Buffaloes

The University of Colorado Boulder sponsors 16 varsity sports teams. Both men's and women's team are called the Buffaloes or Golden Buffaloes . "Lady Buffs" referred to the women's teams beginning in the 1970s, but was officially dropped in 1993...

 in the mid 1950s, making the 1956 Olympic team in his sophomore year, joining his elder sister, Skeeter Werner

Skeeter Werner Walker

Gladys "Skeeter" Werner Walker was an American alpine skier and Olympian. She was born in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. In 1954 she was the youngest member of the U.S. National Ski Team and an Olympian in 1956. She retired from competition in 1957...

.

Buddy Werner was selected for the U.S. Olympic Team three times: 1956

Alpine skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics

At the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, the six alpine skiing events were held from Friday, January 27 to Friday, February 3, 1956.Toni Sailer of Austria won all three men's events to become the first alpine ski racer to win three gold medals in a single Olympics...

, 1960

Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics consisted of six events, held in Squaw Valley, California, U.S.A., from February 20–26, 1960.These were the last Olympics with times recorded in tenths of a second; times in 1964 were recorded in hundredths....

, & 1964

Alpine skiing at the 1964 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1964 Winter Olympics consisted of six events, held near Innsbruck, Austria, from January 30 to February 7, 1964.The men's downhill was held on Patscherkofel , the other five events at Axamer Lizum....

.
His best chance to medal was in 1960

Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics consisted of six events, held in Squaw Valley, California, U.S.A., from February 20–26, 1960.These were the last Olympics with times recorded in tenths of a second; times in 1964 were recorded in hundredths....

 at Squaw Valley

Squaw Valley, California

Squaw Valley, California may refer to:*Squaw Valley, Fresno County, California, census-designated place located in Fresno County, California*Squaw Valley, Placer County, California, community in Placer County, California and host of the 1960 Winter Olympics...

, but Werner broke his leg two months before the games while training in Aspen

Aspen, Colorado

The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...

.

A year earlier, he was the first non-Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an to win the famed Hahnenkamm

Hahnenkamm, Kitzbühel

The Hahnenkamm is a mountain in Austria, directly south of Kitzbühel, in the Kitzbühel Alps. The elevation of its summit is above sea level.The Hahnenkamm is part of the ski resort of Kitzbühel, and hosts the annual World Cup alpine ski races, the Hahnenkammrennen...

 downhill race in Kitzbühel

Kitzbühel

-Demographic evolution:-Personalities:*Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre , entomologist and botanist*Alfons Walde , expressionist painter and architect*Peter Aufschnaiter , mountaineer and geographer...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, in 1959, at age 22. (The only American to win since was Daron Rahlves

Daron Rahlves

Daron Louis Rahlves is an American freestyle skier and a former alpine ski racer. Raised in northern California, he attended the Green Mountain Valley School in Vermont and currently resides in Truckee, California...

 in 2003

2003 Alpine Skiing World Cup

The 37th World Cup season began in October 2002 on Sölden, Austria, and concluded in March 2003 at the World Cup finals in Lillehammer, Norway. The overall winners were Stephan Eberharter of Austria and Janica Kostelić of Croatia....

, on a fog

Fog

Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...

-shortened course. Three Canadians, Ken Read

Ken Read

Ken Read, CM is a retired Canadian Olympic alpine ski racer, Corporate Director, sport advocate and international sports leader....

, Steve Podborski

Steve Podborski

Stephen Gregory Podborski, is a Canadian former World Cup and Olympic downhill ski racer with Ukrainian ancestry.-Racing career:...

, and Todd Brooker

Todd Brooker

Todd Brooker is a former alpine ski racer from Canada and is a ski commentator on television.-World Cup Career:...

, have won the race.)

Werner finished in fourth in the slalom at the 1958 World Championships and took fifth in the giant slalom; he also finished fifth in the giant slalom at the 1962 World Championships

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1962

The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1962 were held in Chamonix, France between February 10–18, 1962.Chamonix hosted the event in 1937, and also the first Winter Olympics in 1924, but without alpine skiing.-External links:...

. He placed eighth in the slalom at the 1964 Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1964 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1964 Winter Olympics consisted of six events, held near Innsbruck, Austria, from January 30 to February 7, 1964.The men's downhill was held on Patscherkofel , the other five events at Axamer Lizum....

, behind teammates (and medalists) Billy Kidd

Billy Kidd

William Winston "Billy" Kidd is a former alpine ski racer, a member of the U.S. Ski Team from 1962-70 and a pro racer from 1970-72...

 and Jimmie Heuga. Although Werner never won an Olympic

Winter Olympic Games

The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...

 or World Championship medal, he is considered the first world-class ski racer from the U.S.; he excelled in all three alpine

Alpine skiing

Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...

 disciplines.

At the end of the 1964 racing season (at the U.S. Alpine Championships in Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

), Werner retired from competition at age 28 and started a new career. He traveled to Europe in early spring to film the ski movie Ski-Fascination for Willy Bogner. Werner and German racer (and Olympic medalist

Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 1960 Winter Olympics consisted of six events, held in Squaw Valley, California, U.S.A., from February 20–26, 1960.These were the last Olympics with times recorded in tenths of a second; times in 1964 were recorded in hundredths....

) Barbi Henneberger

Barbara Henneberger

Barbara-Maria "Barbi" Henneberger was a West German alpine skier who competed for the Unified Team of Germany at the 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympics.In 1960 at age 19, she won the bronze medal in the slalom...

, age 23, were caught in an avalanche

Avalanche

An avalanche is a sudden rapid flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers or human activity causes a critical escalating transition from the slow equilibrium evolution of the snow pack. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the...

 on the Trais Fleur slope near St. Moritz

St. Moritz

St. Moritz is a resort town in the Engadine valley in Switzerland. It is a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden...

, Switzerland, and she died on April 12, 1964. Werner skied out of the first avalanche, but was caught up in another avalance; their bodies were found hours later, deaths attributed to suffocation

Suffocation

Suffocation is the process of Asphyxia.Suffocation may also refer to:* Suffocation , an American death metal band* "Suffocation", a song on Morbid Angel's debut album, Altars of Madness...

.

Werner was posthumously inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame

National Ski Hall of Fame

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and Museum is located in the City of Ishpeming in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the birthplace of organized skiing in the United States...

 later that year. Storm Mountain, the primary mountain of the new Steamboat Ski Resort

Steamboat Ski Resort

Steamboat Ski Area is a major ski area in northwestern Colorado, operated by the Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation in Steamboat Springs. It is located on Mount Werner, a mountain in the Park Range in the Routt National Forest. The ski area first opened on January 12, 1963.The ski area has 165...

 in his hometown, was renamed Mount Werner

Mount Werner

Mount Werner is a mountain in the Park Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, four miles southeast of Steamboat Springs, the county seat of Routt County. It is northwest of Denver. The mountain reaches a height of above sea level and has a base elevation of 6,900 ft . It has a vertical...

 in his honor in February 1965. "Buddy's Run", which starts at the top of Storm Peak on Mount Werner, features a statue honoring Werner near the beginning of the run. He was inducted into the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 1977.

External links

• Teton Gravity.com - Buddy Werner - reprint of Denver Post article by John Meyer - December 2003
• Stars & Stripes - archives - photos of Buddy Werner - 8 February 1959 - European edition
• Sports Illustrated - cover - 27 January 1964 - Winter Olympics preview - Buddy Werner
• Sports Illustrated - cover - 14 March 1955 - Buddy Werner
  • Olympic Gallery - by William Johnson