Brattleboro Union High School - Colonel Yearbook (Brattleboro, VT)

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THE BRATTLEBORO OUTING CLUB BETTY FOWLER '38 and JEAN CROSBY '38 N mid-winter, the snow trail winds white and tracked to the big ski- meet, to crowded skating rinks, and to steep tobog- gan hills. The months dissolve, and with them the ski-slides-ice van- ishes and skating rinks are swimming pools, ten- nis courts buzz with life, and trails, now leafy and shaded, echo with the tromp of horses' hoofs. And so to fall, when breakfast fires wreathe early riders in frames of gray smoke. Thus the Brattleboro Outing Club follows the trail the year round. But who first blazed the way for our local club? Let us look back- It all started from an attempt by Mr. F. K. Brown in 1921, to interest Brattleborians in a ski jump. Fred Harris enlarged the idea to include plans for an out- ing club. He worked to create interest among the townspeople, in this new venture. Then in 1922 the club was formally organized with Fred Harris as its first president and with an enrollment of sixty mem- bers, their purpose to promote outdoor sports in Brattleboro and its vicinities. These first members worked hard-cutting-hewing-clearing trails- erecting cabins, and preparing for winter and summer hiking. Snowshoeing was then tremendously popular. Par- ties of Sunday hikers fdressed in khaki breeches and heavy wool sweaters, often trudged over the Retreat Woods trail to Camp Ridgewood, better known as Camp Comfort. This camp was built by the club and is located over the hill in back of the ski-jump. In the next two years of its existence, the member- ship of the club tripled. Meanwhile, skiing, which had been of little consequence before, came into its own. More and more-skiis replaced snowshoes, and skiing parties slid over the winter trails. An important day was February 4, 1922. The Brattleboro ski jump was then opened. The town Reformer carried headlines to this effect- Trial Ski jumps Smash Records! Much enthu- siasm in town for State Championship Ski Carniva1. The unofficial jumps, made by Fred Harris of Brattleboro and john Carleton of Dartmouth, jumps of 111 feet and 136 feet respectively, broke the New England record and foreshadowed the spectacular jumping of the official meet. ALL morning trains wheezed into the station and poured forth crowds of excited participants and spectators. Members of St. Michael's Cadets met the trains and assisted in carrying skiis, and in giving di- rections. Lieutenant-Governor Abraham W. Foote came in on an early train for the meet-and the town fairly swelled with anticipation of its first big ski carnival. That afternoon, the hill was gay with flags, and small evergreens lined the slopes. A special platform decorated with a huge American flag had been erected opposite the officials' stand for the Lieutenant-Gow ernor and his party. The crowd gathered-the offi- cials took their places-the announcer told of lieu- tenant-Governor Foote's arrival. A cheer swelled from the 2,500 assembled throats. On with the jumping! In the first official jump, john Carleton made a perfect leap of 150 feet. Spectators-chilled outwardly, yet inwardly heated with the thrills of the jumping-applauded the day's contest. The New England Record was smashed eleven times, and the Eastern United States record of 118 feet, held by Gunar Muchelson of Berlin, New Hampshire, was smashed. The previous New Eng- land Record of HIM feet had been made by Ing- valli Anderson at Berlin, New Hampshire. Both the gold medal offered by Randall 8: Son for contest jumping, and the silver loving cup offered by Vaughan 8: Burnett as first prize in the contest were awarded to john Carleton of Dartmouth, for the dis- tance and excellent form of his jumping. Without doubt, the first Brattleboro Ski meet was a stupendous success! As years went by, skiing grew in importance, and snow-shoeing died a natural death, due to the fact that skiing affords real thrills and adventure. It was in 1924 that the club attempted to operate a skating rink. The biggest venture was in the Retreat Meadows. Fancy skaters came from Boston to per- form for townspeople, and local enthusiasm ran high. In 1928, at a great expense to the club members, a rink was built at the foot of the ski hill. Here, they at- tempted to hold the Skating Championship. As the location was unfavorable, and as the weather sud- denly turned warm, this tournament was a complete failure. Since then, the club has merely provided skating for its members, for a few years, running Vinton's Pond off Main Street. As intense interest

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4 The Class A event, carrying with it possession of the 3750 Winged Ski trophy, was won by Lars Hougen of the Sioux Valley Club of Canton, South Dakota, whose two jumps of 175 and 176 feet were rated the best, consider- ing both form and distance. Norman Berger of Montreal was second prize winner. Including the trials, over 100 leaps were made in the course of the afternoon, and the crowd was given a series of thrills which culminated in Henry Hall's breath-taking leap that landed him nearly 200 feet down the slide. The fact that he did not keep his footing failed to lessen the cheers that greeted his performance, and it was only after he stated that he was too exhausted to make another effort that the crowd ceased to call his name. The afternoon's program opened othcially a few minutes after one o'clock, when john Lawton of the local club came down the slide with an American Hag which was carried to Governor Redfield Proctor, who raised it as the band played the national anthem. The weather was ideal from the standpoint of the spectators, but a light snow that fell for a short time interfered somewhat with the jump- ers' ability to see, and slowed up the takeoff a trifle. On the whole, however, the meet was run off in a way that left little to be desired, and general favorable comment was heard from the visitors. ik ik Dk 214 HE second National Tournament was held in Brattle- boro on February 21, 1929. On that day the slide was covered with a deep layer of soft snow that did not pack down well and which slowed up the slide from the top of the hill to the take-off so that the jumpers were un- able to get the desired momentum. As the weather was rather stormy, no records were broken, but Strand Mikkelson took the National Ski title in Class A from Lars Haugen of the St. Paul Athletic Club. Haugen made a beautiful leap of 148 feet in almost perfect form, while Mikkelson covered 1-17 feet also in notably line form, both in the special medal contest. Mik- kelson captured a leg on the Brattleboro Outing Club's Winged Trophy valued at 3750, on which no one had won more than one leg up to 1929. Mikkelson's jumps of 1-il and 131 feet and his form gave him a rating of 21-1.7 'T 'TTT S Wfiiliziiiiiiiliill points, while Haugen was rated second with 209.6 points, his jumps being 136 and 130 feet. Our own local jumpers did themselves proud at this meet. Oliver Morrisseau, Brattleboro Outing Club, of Class C, captured the event of his class with a rating of 13-1.2. He made two line jumps of 88 and 97 feet, his second one being the longest jump made in that event. Runner-up in this class was Harry Morse, also of the Brattleboro Outing Club, whose rating was 132.8 with jumps of 73 and 91. All in all, this meet advanced the placement of our local jump and of the Brattleboro Outing Club, and proved to be one of the most successful tournaments ever held in the East. Carl Nilsen of the Norge Ski Club, Chicago, said for the skiers: Your hill is fineg one of the best in the country. There is only one suggestion we have to make and that is to double the width of your landing slope. If you don't, you are going to have a bad accident there some day when some skier, by reason of violent wind, is thrown off his course to the slide, and he'll pull up against those rocks. So widen your hill before you hold another big tournament. We have had a good time in your town and we want to come back again. With perfect weather and 1,600 snow train visitors on hand, the Brattleboro Outing Club's annual ski meet was held on February 23, 1936, and proved to be a great suc- cess. A fitting climax to the carnival was provided when Mezzy Barber, local jumping star, broke the amateur non-competition record on the ski hill with an exhibition leap of 198 feet before 3000 spectators. Aurele Legere of the Chisholm Ski Club, Rumford, Maine, was crowned champion in the United States Eastern amateur meet. In Class B Sherman Spear of the Nansen Ski Club, Berlin, New Hampshire, was the winner. Legere's form in two leaps of 197 and 180 feet was near perfect. INCE 1929, many improvements have been made at our ski jump. The hill has been graded several times, the jump has been set back, an apron has been built, and the trestle has been relocated and rebuilt so that longer jumps can be made. A comparison of measurements of the Brattleboro jump and those of the Dartmouth jump fCm11ir1ued on page 201 Cut by Berry Fozvfcr '37

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,.,v it CAMP RIDGIEXVOOD CH' fit I-1'1f'f!f ff' '39 for skating grew, so did the club. Many new mem- bers flocked to join the Outing Club's activities. ln later years a rink was again opened on the Retreat Meadows and Vinton's was taken over by private in- terest. Finally, in 1935, a public skating rink was given up as a financial failure. For the past few years, more stress has been laid upon downhill skiing, which of- fers higher interest and a broader field. The Brattleboro Outing Club developed such a keen interest in tennis in the following years that in the spring of 1930, four excellent tennis courts were built. Then, in 1951 the Vermont State Tennis Cham- pionship, which usually took place in Middlebury, was held in Brattleboro. The arrangements were com- pleted by a local committee with Wiircl N. Boylston A Note in the Slcy ELEANOR XWBAVFR '57 ART ofthe sky -- You hover-J For one minute--4 Posed like A quivering note of music on a parchment page. You are A composition of beauty, symmetry and motion. You drop- A A black meteor, diving from a great, white height. You are A marriage of earth and sky, esthetic and real. You- A creation of God in a daring, playful mood-U A ski jumper. as chairman. Brattleboro High School offered the bleachers which seated about 350 persons. N this first year, 31 players who met the require- ments for not having reached the age of 18 regis- tered for the junior Singles. There were forty-seven entries for the Senior Singles. The champion of the litt-r Charles Kraus of Providence, Rhode Island, 1 c , van uished Fred Harris of Brattleboro. ln 1932, the numiber of entries was about the same. Charles Kraus again won the Men's Singles Championship. Paul Guibord received the junior Singles Title. The following year, however, Robert l-Iusted of Poughkeepsie won the Men's Singles. Then, in 1934, as well as in 1935, Paul Guidbord, who had graduated from the junior to the Senior tennis list, gained the title of Vermont State Tennis Champion. Further improvements o o c club house was built, which provided showers and changing facilities for the players. Last summer the Outing Club w Vines jr., Lester Stoetfon. George Lott, R. Berkeley f ll wld. ln 193-l, a small as fortunate in securing lillsworth Bell, all professionals, in an exhibition match. At the present time, the Brattleboro Outing Club, with Robert Billings as president, john Dunham as treasurer, and Floyd Messenger as secretary, has two hundred and twenty-six members. The dues are live - . ' ' - , . f dollars for men and two dollars and titty cents or women and children. The occasional meetings are cld in the ofliccs of Dunham Brothers lil ' 'S 1. . We wish the best of luck to the Brattleboro Outing Club in the future, and we are sincerely grateful for the opportunities afforded us by the club in our town. Sleepy Smoke BEVERLEY BIGELOXV '38 LYLY, Smoke blows from the chimneyg Artfully, It swirls among the treesg Craftily, It curls to meet the clouds - A cunning gray fox Slinking behind cloud bushes A white sea gull Winging into cloud curtains A sleek ermine Creeping into cloud caverns An Angora cat Crawling into cloud cushions Smoke - ascending to heaven. 6