Joseph Peter Wilson Sr. was
an All America Nordic skier for
St. Lawrence as a senior and went on to ski on the U.S. Olympic Ski Team and
complete on the U.S. World Championship Biathlon Team and on the US Bobsled
Team, winning a bronze medal in the World Championship as part of the four-man
bob team in 1965.
A captain of the ski team as
a junior and senior, Joe Pete competed in both cross country and jumping and
helped the team to a fifth place finish in the 1958 NCAA Championships, the
best in program history. He earned All America honors with a fourth place
finish in the cross country competition.
A native of Lake Placid, he
was named to the U.S. Ski Team in 1959 andÂ
competed in the 1960 Olympics in the men's 30 kilometer race
finishing 43rd at Squaw Valley. He went on to become a member of the U.S. Biathlon
Team from 1961-63 and was a member of the U.S .Bobsled Team from 1964-66.
He co-authored "Complete
Cross Country Skiing and Ski Touring" which was proclaimed by many to have
started the boom in cross country skiing in the 1970s and in 1972 founded the Cross
Country Ski Areas Association, an international association of cross country ski area
operators. He also established criteria for cross country ski instruction, now known as the Professional Ski Instructors of America and in
1980 was the manager for the U.S. Olympic Committee for the bob and luge at
Lake Placid. He was inducted into the Lake Placid Hall of Fame in 2001 and was
named one of the top ten people to promote the sport of cross country skiing in
the U.S. in the last century in 2005.
In addition to his
involvement in the cross country ski industry, which included helping to set up
the cross country ski area at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT, he ran an
inn and ski area in Keene, NY until his retirement.
