RUSH YELVERTON:
I
hadn’t seen Rush for several years and was as delighted as I was puzzled about
his coming to Park City for a ski reunion, because I knew that he originally
hailed from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, which is not your usual incubator of
skiing enthusiasts. So, I buttonholed him at first opportunity. “Tell me about
your skiing career,” I asked.
“Well,” he replied, “I started skiing on the Victor
Constant slope at West Point during our first-class year.” He went on to relate
how he had checked out Army-issue skis and learned to sidestep and herringbone
his way up the hill; how he could do diagonals across the hill; and how he
could fall without injury.
“And then?” I inquired. “What happened next?” I
expected him to tell me how he had continued with skiing at Garmisch or
Berchtesgaden and had learned to love the sport; how he took the occasional ski
vacation in Colorado; and how he wanted to brush up on his technique in Park
City.
“Nope,” Rush said. “Nothing. I’ve never skied
since.” And I was astonished at and full of admiration for his chutzpah.
He’d borrowed his brother-in-law’s ski togs (and
rather fashionable, at that) and had rented boots, skis and poles. The next day
he would start out with lessons.
Every evening, I would query him about his progress.
He was doing fine and was enthusiastic and full of confidence. His lessons were
in the morning and afternoons he would practice what he’d learned. I think that
Byron Marsh skied with him in the afternoon.
Friday, our group’s final ski day, was Rush’s third
day at Park City. He went out with the mass of us to free-ski and we chose the
big, broad and gentle slopes of Home Run to watch him. Those are the photos in
the SKI PIX section, the ones with the 16 skiers – all eager to see what Rush
had learned. I wouldn’t have wanted to be in his ski boots.
But let’s look at some pictures.
Picture 47. Here’s Rush skiing, and
he’s looking pretty good: skis wide and stable, knees slightly bent, arms
relaxed, and concentrating on the terrain immediately ahead.
In the left background is Byron Marsh, keeping a
watchful eye. Next to Byron is Flo Bell, and on the right of the photo is (I
think) John Moellering in his Darth Vader getup.
Picture 48. Bob (ski-like-Stein) Croteau giving one-on-one instruction. A finer instructor Rush couldn’t have had.
Picture 49. Further instruction. Bob Croteau on the far right, Rush following. Some other kibitzers were mixing in: “unweight the uphill ski, face downhill, point your chin forward, bend zee knees, etc., etc.” I decided to get out of there. The last thing he needed was some paparazzi shoving a camera in his face.
That evening, we had dinner at an Italian place in Park City. I sat across from Rush and we discussed his skiing experience. He’d taken a few spills and had a few blemishes to show for it, but that’s all part of the sport. He was confident and pleased with his rapid progress, as well he should have been.
You know, I could even rewrite the tag line from
that moralistic essay, “A Message to Garcia.” Remember it? In 1898, at the
outbreak of the Spanish-American War, the Secretary of War wanted to get a
message through to a rebel Cuban leader, a certain General Garcia. He sent a
Lt. Rowan, a West Point football player to bear the message.
Updated version: “I need a man
for a dangerous skiing mission. Send me a West Point tennis player.”
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Ski pix
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