Wearing his trademark white-framed aviator sunglasses and colorful one-piece ski suit, Wayne Wong mixed with the crowd at Saturday’s grand opening. Sticky Wicket – filled with ski memorabilia - is located at Silver Lake on the second floor of the Royal Street Café.
Wong grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, and learned to ski at 11.
“I fell in love with skiing. The very first time I put skis on my feet I go, ‘this is extraordinary,’” Wong said. “And it was just like, I had to pursue it.”
To ski for free, he became a ski instructor at 16. At 21, he competed in what was one of the first “hot dog” or freestyle events in the country at Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, and finished third, which launched his ski career.
“I had invented a whole bunch of tricks with my namesake on it that nobody had ever seen before,” he said. “So, when I went back to Waterville to compete in that first event, I knew I had some maneuvers that nobody had ever seen, which kind of, I thought at that time, would give me a little bit advantage over all the other competitors.”
His most famous is the Wong Banger, a trick he says he invented accidentally.
“One day I was skiing in very flat and foggy conditions and I hit a real steep transition and it ejected me forward and instinctively I stuck my ski poles in front of me and did a vault – a complete flip over my ski poles and landed on my feet. I go, ‘Wow, what a great trick - a pole flip.’”
While Wong has been recognized as one of the 100 best skiers ever, he says he’s not sure he could do what the kids are doing today in freestyle.
“We weren’t crazy – we were pushing the limits at that time. And I felt very comfortable. But now the athletes, what they're doing, they’re doing the same thing. And I look at these guys and well, they're crazy and I'm glad I'm not competing in the same arena with these youngsters right now.”
Two-time Olympian Trace Worthington who competed in both aerials and moguls remembers being inspired by Wong as a kid.
“I had his poster up on my wall since I was little kid,” Worthington said. “Complete inspiration. You know, watching him and ski films and old films back in the day. It was awesome. I've never forgotten it. And I love that poster.”
He says Wong’s tricks always stood out and the tricks he competed with in the ‘90s have inspired the skiers of today. But he says he never managed to figure out how to do the Wong Banger.
“I never really got the Wong Banger. You know why? Because I never knew how he did that without blowing out both knees. Every time I saw it, I'm like, that looks like it hurts.”
Wong competed with long-time Park City resident Bob Theobald who was the first to throw a forward twisting somersault in competition.
Wong lives in Reno, but has reached a partnership with Deer Valley, so he says he will be spending a lot more time in Park City. He’ll be back for February’s Freestyle World Cup as well as the US Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame event in March.
