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**truebluefan** · 02-02-2008, 09:05 PM

LAS VEGAS (Jan. 31) - Olympic aerials champion Eric Bergoust, alpine World Championships medalist and popular skiing ambassador Doug Lewis plus snowboarding pioneers Donna and Jake Burton Carpenter are among the newest honored members of the U.S. National Ski and Snowboarding Hall of Fame. Induction ceremonies during the SnowSports Industries America Trade Show '08 drew a vast cross-section of the ski and snowboarding worlds.

Other inductees Thursday included Tommy Jacobs, 1952 Olympian and founder of Reliable Racing Supply; Everett Kircher, founder of Boyne Mountain Ski Area, which has grown into the largest family held ski resort company in North America; and Mitch Cubberley, designer of the first step-in ski binding and other innovations. Kircher and Cubberley were inducted posthumously.

Bergoust's glittering report card includes the '98 Olympic gold medal plus the 1999 FIS Freestyle World Championships aerials title, two World Cup aerials championships, 15 World Cup wins and two U.S. titles. Coming from a close-knit family, he opened by thanking the U.S. Ski Team for providing opportunities to excel and said the Hall of Fame "is a great family to be in."

As a youngster, he wanted to be a jet pilot, so Bergoust was attracted to aerials while still in grammar school. "I always liked to fly or fall through the air. When I discovered aerials, it was love at first sight," he told the breakfast gathering at the Mandalay Bay Hotel.

He also found that the work, ethic which he had learned growing up on a 20-acre spread near Missoula, MT, worked for him. "It stuck with me. I didn't think training was hard work at all." He noted he hadn't gone to college because he was so focused on his skiing, but said he succeeded because he had his own Ph.D. - "I was poor, hungry and driven."

Lewis: relentless skiing ambassador
Lewis, who is believed to be the only cello-playing World Cup ski racer, was downhill bronze medalist at the 1985 World Championships. He also raced in two Olympics and earned two U.S. DH championships. But he also was cited for his relentless promotion of skiing - through radio and TV commentary, numerous appearances every year snd a variety of other promotional endeavors

"I'm lucky - the chairlift is my office," he said.

Speed was an early visitor in his life. "I was born to be a downhiller. The need for speed and to go fast on snow was a part of me," Lewis said. Between 8-12 years old, he probably had his lift pass pulled 30 times, he told the group.

He thanked his wife Kelley, a former Canadian World Cup skier, and his parents. "I had great skier racing parents. They didn't know a lot, which was great. They didn't go by the scoreboard. They gave me the opportunity."

Donna and Jake Burton Carpenter set two benchmarks with their induction: the first couple inducted simultaneously and the first individuals from snowboarding.

Jake recalled how he had been kicked out of the 1981 SIA show in the days before snowboarding became a more integrated snow sport. "We've had a love-hate relationship with the ski industry, but this is about as lovey-dovey as it gets," he said with a grin.

He grew up skiing and was "very passionate" about it. After starting Burton Snowboards, which blanket about half the global market, he began promoting snowboarding at every opportunity.

Jake: Snowboarding helps create ski events
"Snowboarding has done a lot for skiing - the shorter, the wider, the side-cuts," he said. He also noted freestyle skiing events are being "board-sport-driven." Ski cross is the newest Olympic snowsport event, making it debut at Vancouver in 2010. He thanked "all the riders, all the dealers and everybody at Burton" for playing key roles in advancing the sport.

Donna, speaking briefly, added, "There were a lot of women pioneers in the sport. Women continue to play an important role."

Jacobs was the first fulltime coach at the University of Colorado and began to scour European markets as well as North America to meet various equipment needs. In 1969, as Reliable Racing became the first mail order business in skiing, the company produced a modest catalogue. He held up a copy of that 40-year-old catalogue and noted this winter's edition is 144 pages.

Kircher was hailed several times for his visionary approach to ski area management. He bought 40 acres of hillside farmland for $1 because a farmer didn't think it could be productive. That was the launching pad for a company with resorts from Maine to Vancouver. Cubberley invented the Cubco binding and several other engineering innovations, which have made skiing safer.

The Ski Hall of Fame is located in Ishpeming, MI, and a weekend of activities is expected to be held in the fall as the newest honored members are welcomed into the Hall.

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