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Show Wed/Thurs/Fri, May 2-4, 2018 The Park Record B-3 Jeremy Ranch golf programs acclaimed by Best of State HUGH CAREY/SUMMIT DAILY Hailing from Silverthorne, 2018 paralympian Jimmy Sides, far left, and the 2018 winter olympians, gold medalist Red Gerard, and silver medalist Kyle Mack wave to the crowds from the fire truck during the parade on Saturday, April 28, in Silverthorne. COURTESY OF JAKE HANLEY The Jeremy Ranch men’s golf association poses with their clubs. Head golf professional Jake Hanley says Jeremy Ranch’s associations were part of the reason its programming won Best of State. Club’s programs earn top spot for the first time Gerard, Sides and Mack return to Silverthorne Leaphart ducked in the ajar door and had Gerard sign a Summit County-made skateboard — one spray-painted by local youth boarders. And it was with a gold marker, of course. “I teach all the kids and I’m like, ‘well, Ben’s in there first, so let me go congratulate Red,’” Leaphart said. “I teach the skateboard camp over in Breck, and Red has known me from skateboarding since he was probably, like, 14. As soon as I walked in, he knew who I was and I wore a ‘Board Friendly’ shirt for him so I could just slide right on in.” For the local Silverthorne Olympic heroes like the gold medal-winner Gerard, 17, Saturday was that kind of a day. It was an exclamation point, one final major public appearance on the wild ride after becoming the youngest American male to ever win a Winter Olympic gold medal in an individual competition. “Kyle, Red and I were just Dr. Jim Suttie, left, with club member Jason Young. Golf Digest ranked Suttie among the best golf teachers in America last October. SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. -After the honored Olympians and Paralympian completed a processional parade, after a ride high up in a fire truck bucket and after they walked through a shoulder-to-shoulder throng of fellow Silverthorne, Colorado, residents, Summit County skateboarding instructor Jim Leaphart knew this was his moment. That’s because Saturday morning’s whirlwind was much the same as the past four months have been for hometown Olympians Red Gerard, Kyle Mack, Chris Corning and Paralympian Jimmy Sides. Fresh off of a Friday evening flight back to Denver from Team USA’s visit to the White House — and a stop at Chipotle for a late-night snack, for Gerard, Corning and Mack — here again were the under-21 snowboarding trio, dressed to the nines in a “VIP room” at 9:45 a.m., ready for more media interviews. The interviews were quickly followed by a Facebook live stream broadcast. Then there was the ascension of the bucket truck, then the parade and then re-entering into the rec center through the adoring, star-spangled mass of locals. And it was then when Leaphart saw — through the tinted glass door of the VIP room — Gerard taking a breather back inside while talking to some young skateboarders, Leaphart made his move. While hundreds of others jammed through the rec center’s front doors after their heroes, Leaphart saw one of his skateboard students, Ben Longley, getting an autograph from Gerard. So in the short interval of time between the parade and key to the city ceremony in the gymnasium, during a time when the ski team was under fire for underperforming. He also looks back fondly on Picabo Street’s 1995 World Cup winning spree, and Sean White’s gold this winter. But Kelly’s voice got noticeably thicker when he talked about Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall’s gold medal in the cross-country sprint relay in Pyeongchang in February. After spending so long developing and promoting cross-country as a sport, how could he not? He had even gone so far as to die his white beard hot pink in support of the team, mimicking Randall’s own iconic locks. More importantly, the only medal the U.S. cross-country team had previously won was earned in 1976 by Bill Koch. Kelly, his colleagues at U.S. Ski and Snowboard, and cross-country fans around the country, had been waiting for Diggins and Randall’s performance for 42 years, and Kelly was in the finish area when it happened. He said it dawned on him during Diggins second lap, as she attacked the course, that she was mote Olympians after their success and take advantage of their moments in the sun — which is now a feature of the Summer Games as well. Luke Bodensteiner, chief of sport with U.S. Ski and Snowboard, knows Kelly well — he has worked with him almost daily for more than a decade. Bodensteiner described Kelly as “one of the most enthusiastic people you’ll ever come across,” adding that he has a deep passion for his profession. “He loves skiing, he loves the sport, but he also loves telling the story about the competitions; he loves giving people insight into the backstory of what we do,” Bodensteiner said. “He’s an incredibly focused individual, especially when it comes to difficult situations we find ourselves in, and he’s a real rock when we are in times of crises; he’s a steady and comforting presence.” In his acceptance speech for the Building Dreams Award, Kelly told his peers at the USOC to keep their heads up while going through hard times, referring to the Larry Nassar scandal and questions about the Olympic movement’s financial viability. Sitting by the golden stump, Kelly said those topics are more than worthy of discussion, but the USOC is trying its best to address the problems. “I know that my friends over at USOC, it’s hard for them to go to work right now because they are under such scrutiny,” he said. “They’re just getting hammered. But I believe in what we do, I believe in what our organization does, and what the U.S. Olympic Committee does. And I wanted them to hear that their jobs are important. We had 220 athletes in the room that night. These athletes count on us to do these jobs.” On June 15, Kelly will leave his position at U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “My wife has taught me this,” Kelly said. “She says, ‘You’re not retiring, you’re relaunching.” Kelly, not one for down time, will start Tom Kelly Communications LLC., a public relations consulting agency targeting smaller national sports (like biathlon) or large clubs. “I can go into a national governing body, or a club, or an international sports federation and I can provide them with some good knowledge,” he said. He also plans on continuing public speaking and developing more opportunities for athletes to speak, creating what he calls an “Olympic athlete speakers’ bureau,” under the banner of Behind the Gold, the name of his weekly seasonal column. His position at U.S. Ski and Snowboard is leaving with him -- for the moment there will be no Vice President of Communications, but Tom Webb will fill Kelly’s role under a different title. Kelly laughed when asked if he had advice for those that would follow in his footsteps. “I’m being careful not to dole it out so much anymore,” he said, but he did offer a few words. “You have to continue to have passion in supporting athletes,” he said. “And I think if there is one simple word of advice I would give, it would be, ‘When in doubt, ask the athletes.’ That’s who we serve. Once I figured that out it was really pretty easy.” BEN RAMSEY The Park Record Jeremy Ranch Golf and Country Club’s golf programs were recently named the best in Utah by Best of State, an independent awards organization. Though Jeremy Ranch has won a Best of State award previously for its fine dining, it was the first time it’s won for its golf programs, which falls under the Sports & Recreation category. Head golf professional Jake Hanley, who nominated the program, said the achievement was “very exciting for the entire club.” A panel of at least eight anonymous judges independently scored each nomination in three categories — excellence in endeavors (50 percent of the score), use of innovative approaches or methods (30 percent of the score) and contribution to a better quality of life in Utah (20 percent of the score). Once those Please see Local club, B-4 Continued from B-1 Leaving a storied legacy ganization’s merger with the U.S. Ski Team, and the resulting move from the association’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Park City. After that, Kelly transitioned to public relations director in 1988. “That’s essentially the job that I have today, and it’s all I ever wanted to do,” Kelly said. Not surprisingly, Kelly has seen a lot of big moments for the team. Some of his favorite memories include playing a part in creating the Golden Boy cover story by Sports Illustrated by providing reporter William Oscar Johnson with a backseat interview with alpine racer Tommy Moe. Moe, an underdog, had just won the gold in downhill at the 1994 Olympics Olympians ride out a whirlwind homecoming ANTONIO OLIVERO Summit Daily COURTESY OF JAKE HANLEY not hedging her bets. “We’d never thought about that, but she had,” Kelly said. “All along we were like, ‘We gotta get a medal, we gotta get a medal,’ no one was saying, ‘We’ve gotta win.’ But the way she was attacking on that lap, we knew she was going for a win.” Randall held the lead during her last leg, then Diggins “blew it wide open,” Kelly said. It was a transcendent moment for the team. “That, for sure, is absolutely the pinnacle event for me,” Kelly said. “It will never be topped. ... I’ve been to plenty of world championships where we’ve won medals; I’ve watched those same two win the world championship in 2013, but there was nothing like that moment in Pyeongchang.” His authority on the matter — his 32 years with the organization — played a large role in earning him the Building Dreams Award on April 19. According to a press release, Kelly also earned the award for pioneering the USOC’s Managing Victory tour, designed to pro- Please see Athletes, B-4 Get the top local news stories delivered directly to your inbox with a new weekly email update from the Park Record! Sign up now at bit.ly/prrecordroundup |