Last weekend, I mentioned Ed Rogers as part of my column remembering some snowless Christmases of the past. Fortunately, as I began work on this week’s offering, the snowless part had passed.

One of the topics Ed and I had talked about has become official. For several years, Ed talked about reviving the World Pro Ski Tour. I knew he was talking with possible partners and beginning the search for sponsors. Then along came a press release announcing the relaunch of the World Pro Ski Tour in 2017. Although the ownership was not tied down completely, Craig Marshall, a former Sugarloaf and Colby College ski racer, was named as Executive Director.

I already knew that John Jacobs of Reliable Racing and Kevin Clarke, who had run pro tournaments for Ed, were involved, and Ed has commitments from several ski areas to host the events. The rest seems to be fluid, but a look at history tells me this will happen.

It really started with Edwin Rogers, who had grown up in Patten, attended Hebron Academy, served in the U. S. Navy, graduated from UMO and coached basketball at Canton and Dixfield. He and Dickie Ayotte bought a camp near Sugarloaf and spent weekends skiing there. Ayotte went on to own Ayotte’s store and died along with Judd Strunk in a plane crash. Rogers bought the Red Stallion, which became party central at the Loaf in the seventies.

In order to build his business, the young entrepreneur realized that Sugarloaf had to do more business, especially midweek, and he became a promoter. At age 28, Rogers joined the board of directors of the Sugarloaf Area Association. He initiated the $99 ski week, five days of skiing, lodging, dinner and breakfast. He started White White World Week along with Harry Baxter, Icky Webber, John Winn and CB Vaughn. Among the events he was involved in creating were Miss Sugarloaf, partying at a different bar each night of the week, and skier’s homecoming.

But the biggest was creating a single phone number for reservations at all of the lodging places in the area. He was also a key player in starting Ski New England, bringing together major ski areas in the region to promote it as a destination during a poor snow year in the West.

It was this promotional ability Mike Collins was looking for when he approached Rogers with the idea of starting an Eastern Pro Racing Tour. Bob Beattie, a former U. S. Ski Team coach, was running his World Pro Ski Tour mostly in the West, so Collins and Rogers figured an eastern tour could work.

The format was already established to be better for spectators and TV. Instead of a single racer on the course racing an invisible clock, dual courses were set up and the racers barged out of gates with the deciding factor the time differential between the two racers at the finish. It was easy to follow even to those who had no knowledge of ski racing. Adding to the excitement were jumps with a five foot drop. After qualifying there were 32 racers who eliminated each other head-to-head down to the final pairing for the top money.

The Eastern Tour went well until 1981, when the racers on Beattie’s Tour went on strike. They misjudged big time. Beattie, who was doing commentary for ABC Sports, didn’t need the tour and simply shut it down, leaving the racers out in the cold. They decided they could move to what they considered the “B” tour in the East. They found out the “B” tour racers weren’t that easy to beat. Losing consistently they faded from the scene, and Ed Rogers found himself with the only Pro Ski Racing Tour in the World.

At its peak, the tour had 17 events each season at resorts in the East and West long with Europe and Japan. The key was TV. In a typical season there were seven shows on ESPN, nine on Sports Channel, two on ABC and one on Japanese TV. The tour was seen in syndication in 65 TV markets including 14 of the top 20 and 8 of the top 10.

And there was real money. Jarle Halsnes, the 1987 champion, won nearly $350,000. The major sponsors started with Peugeot, and went on include Chrysler and Audi, along with beer companies and others. In 1987, Rogers added the women’s tour and until 1998 he ran both tours from his office over his Bath restaurant, J.R. Maxwell’s. In 1998 he sold the tour and it folded not long after. It apparently needed someone like Rogers, who would wind up the tour at Aspen in April and work his way home selling sponsorships for the following year.

Rogers has spent most of his adult life promoting skiing here in Maine and through the tour. He loved the party atmosphere, a natural after his Red Stallion days, and while the World Cup referred to its events as the “White Circus,” Ed called his tour the “White Carnival”. With Rogers as a guide, the team he has put together can bring back the World Pro ski Tour as strong as ever. I will be looking forward to the first event in Maine.

*****

Now that we finally have some snow and the forecast of good snowmaking conditions for the next week or more, we can work on those resolutions to ski more. The snow will help open more terrain and, even more important it will allow the snowmakers to move faster to new runs instead of going back to resurface runs already open. Things will get better fast.

This month has plenty of events on the calendar so check www.skimaine.com for details. You will find me at the Bethel Inn next Saturday from 4:30 to 6:30 for the Ski Museum of Maine Vintage Ski Fashion Show. Check www.skimusuemofmaine.org for details.

See you on the slopes

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