Tuesday’s cold and blustery weather was just another day on the race hill for the dozens who came to celebrate Bob Marsh, who turned a fledgling youth ski racing program into an incubator for Olympians and World Cup champions.
Marsh served as director of the ski team from 1975 to 1996 after the club’s early founders Jim Gaddis and Matt Alvarez handed it over to the Michigan native.
Christie Hind is the current director of Park City Ski and Snowboard and acknowledged Marsh for all he’s done to promote the sport.
“Thank you so much,” Hind said. “I am so humbled to have you here today and to celebrate all you've given.”
Jim Clifford, who coached Park City Ski Team athletes for 14 years, said it was important to make sure that one of Marsh’s favorite quotes was imprinted on the side of the new timing center.
“We've got a Bob sign up there, and many, many years of staff meetings and coaches meetings and things like that, that was Bob saying to everybody, if you can't be on time, be early.’”
Patti Formichelli was a ski team coach for 42 years and said it was wonderful to recognize Marsh’s excitement for ski racing.
“Bob was just instrumental in creating the atmosphere that Park City had for skiing and ski racing,” Formichelli said. “There was nothing else to do for the kids at that time. So, I have to say Bob is instrumental in that enthusiasm to get all that going.”
Although Marsh never had children of his own, he helped raise a few generations of Park City’s kids. Scott Williams said Bob Marsh was the most important person to him growing up.
“He would take us in unconditionally. He had boundaries, enforced them and at the end of the day, had perfect judgment in that enforcement. He gave you what you needed and guided you with the rest.”
And Shawn Hazelrigg said Marsh was a strong mentor for most of his youth.
“You know, he kept pushing us and pushing us,” Hazelrigg said. “And, you know, we’d fall down, he'd pick us back up. He was there for the downs and the ups and the good times and the bad times and all the different things we were doing, from when we're little kids until we, you know, graduated from high school.”
Looking over the crowd, including the two children of Park City’s first World Cup athlete, Tori Pillinger, Marsh thanked those who have made Park City a winter sports community.
“It was the most fun, exciting and memorable time of my life,” Marsh said. “It was a privilege, more than it was a job to serve and represent so many wonderful people in the early days of racing in Park City. I wasn't alone. I accept this recognition on behalf of all those people who helped along the way.”
The Bob Marsh Timing Center sits at the base of the Olympic Hopeful and Hyeway runs and overlooks their finish lines. It houses all of the computers and other technical equipment used to calculate final race times.
