Virtual Hall of Fame
The Michigan Ski Hall of Fame was created
to recognize those individuals who have contributed significantly
to the growth of skiing and snowsports in the state of Michigan. Also check out the US National Ski Hall of Fame at 610 Palms Ave., Ishpeming, MI 49849.
Al Almon, Inducted in 2006
Al Almon helped improve ski instruction, creating uniform
teaching standards throughout Michigan and the US. He taught
thousands of people to ski plus he taught numerous ski instructors
the correct and safe way to teach. He developed Michigan’s
first ski instructor certification program.
Al was born in 1915 in Montreal, Quebec,
Canada and started skiing at the age of eight at Mt. Royal
Mountain Park. He was selected for the Canadian Olympic Team
in 1936 as a ski jumper. In the early 1940’s, he became
an instructor at Mt. Tremblant in Quebec, where he won the
coveted Gold Maple Leaf timed race and the heart of Stephanie
Kearns, who was also a ski instructor. They married in 1943.
Except for serving in the Canadian Air Force
during World War II, Al spent his career in the ski industry.
While working at Mt. Tremblant, Al met Donald McCloth, the
founder of Otsego Ski Club, who asked him to come to Michigan
and help run Otsego. Al and Stephanie went there in 1945 and
ran the ski hill and taught skiing for three years. Their
love of the sport shaped their career. Al opened another ski
area 10 miles south of Gaylord in Waters, Michigan, which
he called Ski Village. During this time, he started the Canadian
Ski School, which became the first ski instructor certification
program in Michigan. He developed a unified teaching method
that simplified learning to ski and focused on safety.
Al ran Ski Village from 1948 to 1955, teaching
thousands of people how to ski. “Ski Village was ‘the
place’ for beginners to learn to ski and ski properly,”
emphasized Don Thomas, former owner of Don Thomas Sporthaus.
Ski Village was a smaller ski area that
served as a beginner hill. Back then, there were no snow grooming
machines. Every morning, Al and his crew would put on snow
shoes and walk up and down the slopes to pack the snow down.
Al opened Mt. Frederic in 1955 and ran
it and Ski Village both until closing the smaller area. Mt.
Frederic was a popular ski area, complete with a restaurant
and bar. Unfortunately, the lodge was burnt to the ground
by arson in 1966. After that devastation, Al closed the ski
area and decided to quit active ski instructing altogether.
He went into sales and became Michigan’s first ski equipment
manufacturer’s representative. He sold Cubco Ski Binding,
Sun Valley Ski Clothing, Cortina sweaters, Tyrolia after-ski
boots and Beconta, Hart and Griswold skis to ski shops in
the states of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. When he was 60 years
old, he switched from ski rep to ski retailer, taking a position
at T.W. Ellis of Boyne, (now Boyne Country Sports). He worked
at the Boyne shop for over 20 years and also ran its demo
program.
James (Jim) Dilworth, Inducted in 2006
 James
Dilworth influenced ski areas around the world with his understanding
of snowmaking. He built and patented the world’s first
fan snow making gun. Although he died young, at the age of
59, he made major contributions to snowsports. Virtually every
ski area in Michigan uses some derivative of the gun he helped
to develop, thus boosting the Midwest’s winter economy
by insuring plenty of snow. In addition, Jim was area manager
at Boyne Highlands and then general manager at Nub’s
Nob Ski Area.
Jim Dilworth was born in Boyne City and enjoyed sailing in
the summers. He graduated from Boyne City High School in 1946
as valedictorian and president of his class, then received
a bachelor’s of science degree in civil engineering
from the University of Michigan in 1951. He became a registered
professional engineer in eight states. Out of college, he
married Marydell (Dee) Saunders of Grand Rapids in 1952. He
went to work for the Charlevoix County Road Commission from
1952 to 1957. He also worked for the US Forest Service in
Cadillac, was superintendent for Kendall Construction from
1959 to 1961 and served as vice president for Norton-Kobbins
Consulting Engineers from 1961-1963.
In 1963, Jim conducted a topographical survey
for Boyne USA at what was to become Boyne Highlands in Harbor
Springs. Boyne owner, Everett Kircher, asked Jim to work for
him. Jim agreed, helping first with construction, and then
as area manager for 14 years. While at the Highlands, he built
and patented the first fan snowmaking gun in the world.
In 1977, Walt Fisher purchased Nub’s Nob and recruited
Jim to come across the valley and be the general manager.
Even after Jim took the position at Nubs Nob, he kept a good
rapport with Boyne USA to share common concerns of the ski
industry. At Nub’s, he refined and improved the snowmaking
gun, resulting in another patent.
Jim’s snowmaking knowledge was experienced
worldwide, most notably in Sarajevo, where he was the snowmaking
consultant for the 1984 Winter Olympics. He worked with ski
areas worldwide as a snowmaking and ski area design consultant,
independently and as an agent of Snow Machines Inc. of Midland.
Jim Bartlett, current Nubs Nob general manager, recalls putting
in snowmaking systems for Jim from Alaska to Argentina.
Bruce Firestone, CEO at Mt. Holly Ski Area said, “Jim
seemed to have a knack for allowing all parties to give their
ideas toward a good end, regardless of the project. He revolutionized
snowmaking to the point that his ideas are still used today.
Skiing in the Midwest is partly what it is today because of
Jim’s contributions.”
Jim had been a member of the state’s
Board of Area Ski Safety since 1981. He also served on the
boards of the Central Area Ski Association and the Little
Traverse Conservancy. In Petoskey, Jim served terms on the
City Council, the City Planning Commission, the Bear River
Commission and the Emmet County Planning Commission.
George Petritz, Inducted in 2004
 The
Petritz family has been involved with Crystal Mountain since
it was first established in 1955 as a small community ski
area called “Buck Hills;” first as volunteers
for the ski area, and later as owners of the resort. Today,
Crystal Mountain has evolved into one of the most revered
four-season resorts in the Midwest.
After being operated by volunteers for
a few years, a group of investors purchased the Buck Hills
ski area, formed a corporation and renamed it “Crystal
Mountain.” Six years later, in 1966, Crystal Mountain
was transferred to a group of three investors headed by George
Petritz, whose initial intention was to sell the Resort, he
once told a reporter. “But it wasn’t long before
I began to like it; I stayed with it,” he added. Petritz
eventually took on sole ownership of Crystal Mountain in 1981.
Though his family couldn’t get enough
of it, George Petritz was self-admittedly not much of a skier.
Where he shone, though, was in his treatment of people. Petritz’
philosophy in operating the Resort was a simple one: “We
believe that our customers should be treated as family members,”
he once said. “As if they are guests in our own home.”
His philosophy in employee relations was very much the same.
The experience of surviving over two years
in a WWII Japanese prison camp played an integral part in
shaping George Petritz, as during that time, George learned
firsthand the importance of attitude. It was in prison camp
where George first heard about Thomas J. Watson, the founder
and chairman of IBM. As IBM’s chief, Watson greatly
valued the input and effort of his employees, and told them
so. “He believed it was not who’s right, but what’s
right,” George recalled. “I’d always heard
that a man was known by the company he keeps. In Watson’s
case, he believed that a company is known by the people it
keeps.”
At Crystal, this philosophy allowed George
to attract and retain a high quality staff, several of whom
are still on staff today. George Petritz has since retired,
however Crystal Mountain continues to prosper under the leadership
of daughter, Chris MacInnes and her husband, Jim MacInnes
- who together joined the Resort in 1985, along with the entire
Petritz family, who are current owners and manage the resort.
Together, the family has created a master plan to see the
Resort’s development well into the 21st century.
A far cry from the days of Buck Hills,
today Crystal boasts 36 holes of golf, the new Park at Water’s
Edge pool and water playground, 45 downhill slopes, award-winning
lodging, and an IACC-approved conference center for up to
300 people. This summer, the nationally acclaimed Crystal
Mountain Golf School opened a second location at Fox Hills
Golf and Banquet Center, in Plymouth, Michigan.
Crystal’s growth is visible to the
eye. What lies unseen is what took root at Crystal years ago
and what still exists today: George, and his wife, Althea’s,
giving nature and genuine concern for the well-being of employees
and guests alike, and belief in the business tenets of Thomas
Watson. As always, George credits the Crystal staff, the “human
capital,” as primarily responsible for what Crystal
has become. “If anyone had rested on their laurels,
we couldn’t have made it,” he observed. “It’s
not like a production line. It’s got to come from within.”
Little did George and Althea Petritz know,
in the early days of Buck Hills that they’d one day
be considered the patriarch and matriarch figure not only
for their family of six, but for a family of nearly 500. But
to Crystal Mountain’s employees, that’s just who
they are.
Don Thomas, Inducted in 2004
 Few
men have had the good fortune to transform their passion into
a successful career. Don Thomas is one of those fortunate
people. It is his love for the sport of skiing that led him
to the decision to open a ski shop run by a skier, a novel
idea back in 1953. Last year, Don Thomas Sporthaus celebrated
its 50th anniversary. Don Thomas Sporthaus is recognized as
the oldest running ski shop in America, owned and operated
by the original founder.
Don Thomas grew up in Detroit. The sport
of skiing in those days meant strapping wooden skis onto boots
and heading for a local park. Nevertheless, skiing for Don
would be forever a lifetime affair. Over the years Don has
dedicated his career to keeping the sport of skiing alive
and helping others to enjoy the sport. His friends include
world-class skiers, celebrities, governors, corporate heads,
and high school coaches.
Passionate about skiing and the people
he has met along the way, Don Thomas can always see an opportunity
to connect with people and support the sport. One such connection
put Boyne Mountain into international news. Don introduced
his good friend and Olympic champion, Stein Eriksen to another
good friend, Everett Kircher, founder and owner of Boyne Mountain.
Stein became Boyne’s ski school director and Boyne Mountain
became the mecca for the new age skiers in the Midwest.
Don Thomas saw an opportunity and in November
of 1953, opened a 500 square-foot ski shop in Ferndale, Michigan.
Don laughingly recalls, “I was painting the walls and
waiting on customers at the same time. We didn’t even
have a cash register for the first two years.” That
novel idea for a ski shop proved to be a success.
Over the decades Don Thomas Sporthaus moved
several times to accommodate the ever-increasing business.
For the last 40 years the Bloomfield Plaza in Bloomfield Hills,
Michigan has been home for the Sporthaus.
The 10,000 square-foot store continues
to sell fashion skiwear, ski equipment, and snowboards for
the entire family as well as swimwear, sportswear, active
wear, and patio furniture. Come early fall, two of the three
floors in his store are dedicated to snow and skiing, fashion-forward
skiwear, cutting edge ski equipment and accessories.
Don Thomas has never forgotten what brought him past his celebrated
50th anniversary year. He has always given back. He helped
start Ski Prix, a highly successful fundraiser for the U.S.
ski team. Over the years, he has worked with thousands of
Michigan teens and their high school ski teams. In 1964, Don
started Blizzard Ski Club, Michigan’s first teaching
program for junior skiers. After a successful beginning, the
program grew to launch 3,000 skiers each season.
Don Thomas has been a leader within the
ski industry. He is a founding member of the Michigan Snowsports
Industries Association, (MSIA). In 1999 Don Thomas was awarded
the “Lifetime Achievement” award by the Michigan
High School Coaches Association. Area high school kids named
a ski race event in his honor.
In 1966 the National Ski Industry recognized
him as their first “Midwest Retailer of the Year.”
In 1999 the Midwest Reps Association awarded him with the
first “Retail Pioneer” award for dedication, commitment
and innovation to the sport of skiing.
In 2004, the Don Thomas Sporthaus was recognized as a Ski
Magazine “Gold Medal Ski Shop.”
So it is no surprise that for 50 years
Don Thomas Sporthaus has represented what is best about the
sport of skiing.
Don Thomas and his wife Edna have raised
two sons and one daughter. Don and Edna are grandparents to
seven skiers!
Willard (Bill) Pearson, 1925-2001, Inducted in 2004
 Bill
Pearson did a great deal to promote excitement for the sport
of skiing in Michigan. He opened Bill & Paul’s Sporthaus
in Grand Rapids in 1961 out of a passion for the sport and
a need in west Michigan for a store that would serve the growing
sport of skiing in the area.
He was a competitive ski jumper in the 1950s
and 1960s and built ski jumps and organized the first ski
jumping tournaments in the Grand Rapids area. In the late
1960s, he sponsored Warren Miller movies through his store.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he organized group ski
trips to Italy, France, Austria and Switzerland.
Pearson’s vision put him in the driver’s
seat for many associations that would bring people together
with a common mission: to increase awareness for the sport
and introduce more people to skiing. Pearson was a founding
member of the Michigan Ski Industries Association, (MSIA),
which is now Michigan Snowsports Industries Association. He
was a board member for the association for five years. He
also founded the Grand Rapids Ski Club, the Metro Ski Patrol
of West Michigan and was a founding member and past president
of Ski Merchandising Corporation (SMC), one of the largest
retail ski buying groups in the U.S. Pearson was named Ski
Industries of America Ski Retailer of the Year for 1969 and
SIA Nordic Ski Retailer of the Year for 1992.
He helped establish the first PSIA Certified Nordic Ski School
in West Michigan and served on the PSIA-Central Board of Directors
in which he held the position as a Nordic Education Chairman
and PSIA Nordic examiner. He helped establish the first Cross
Country Ski Touring Center in the Grand Rapids area, the first
ski instruction program with the Grand Rapids Public Schools
and he helped establish and instructed the first West Michigan
Nordic Ski, organized the first downhill ski school in Southwest
Michigan, and was one of the first coaches and competition
coordinator for Central USSA Region III in the 1950’s.
He organized fundraisers to help send Michigan skiers to national
meets.
Pearson was born in Norway, Michigan and
grew up and lived in Michigan all his life. He served in the
U.S. Army during World War II and graduated from Michigan
State University in Lansing with a degree in Business Administration.
Everett F. Kircher, Inducted in 2003
 Everett
Kircher, was a pioneer in the ski industry as an innovator
of ski instruction, snowmaking and grooming and founder of
the nation’s largest privately-held collection of ski
resorts.
Skiers first took notice of Kircher
in 1947, when the Detroit native moved to northern Michigan
to build a ski resort. For just $1, he bought the land necessary
to begin development of what is known today as Boyne Mountain.
This was just the beginning for this young entrepreneur and
inventor. He later purchased the Harbor Highlands Ski Resort,
just 25 miles north of Boyne Mountain, better known today
as Boyne Highlands. Since that time, Kircher has had many
firsts including the world's first triple chair, installed
in 1964 at Boyne Highlands and the world's first four-place
chair installed in 1969 at Boyne Mountain.
Kircher's ski innovation also included
the introduction of snowmaking. He invented the Boyne Snowmaker,
the first efficient snowmaker widely accepted as the standard
for marginal temperature snowmaking. It combines small amounts
of air and electricity with large quantities of water to provide
a high efficiency snowmaking system with energy savings, and
minimum noise level. He also pioneered the design of much
of the snow grooming equipment and techniques in use today.
His unflagging interest in skiing
technique resulted in bringing former Olympians Stein Erickson
and Othmar Schneider to Boyne Mountain to head the ski school
and to teach the "reverse shoulder" method to skiers
visiting his resort.
"Everett was years ahead of
everyone when it came to developing and operating a ski resort
and attracting the potential skiing public," said world-famous
racer and instructor Stein Erickson.
A desire to keep his employees on
staff between ski seasons led Kircher into golf. A friend
suggested that a golf course might attract summer visitors.
That was all Kircher needed. Using his father's Ford farm
tractor, he carved out a sporty nine-hole, par-three layout
at the base of the Boyne Mountain Lodge.
After developing Boyne Highlands
ski facilities, Kircher became more serious about golf and
the development of one of the Midwest's first four-season
resorts. Architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. was hired to design
the 18-hole Heather course that opened in 1970. By 1971, the
Heather was ranked in the top 100 courses in the U.S. by Golf
Digest magazine. Year after year, Everett Kircher’s
resorts earn countless awards and recognitions. In 2000, Kircher
himself was honored as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential
Skiers of All Time" by, SKI Magazine, placing him beside
Olympic athletes, inventors and filmmakers such as, World
Cup champion and Olympic gold medallist, Jean-Claude Killy
and the popular filmmaker, Warren Miller.
In the late 1970's Kircher purchased
Walloon Hills Ski Area and later donated the acreage and lodge
to Challenge Mountain, a non-profit, volunteer ski area for
the mentally handicapped and physically challenged.
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