Waterville Valley's Founder Dies

[SnoBrdr]

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Tom Corcoran, an Olympic skier who founded the Waterville Valley ski resort in New Hampshire that became popular with racers and celebrities, has died. He was 85.

Former assistant Jan Stearns said Corcoran died Tuesday at his home in Seabrook Island, South Carolina, following a brief illness. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, whose family bought the resort in 2010, offered his condolences Wednesday and said he grew up skiing with Corcoran’s family.

“Tom wasn’t just the founder of Waterville Valley, he was the spirit that grew it into one of the most storied destinations in New England,” he said.

Corcoran was born Nov. 16, 1931, and grew up in Canada, where he attended an unconventional school in St. Jovite, Quebec, set up for the family than ran a nearby resort.

“We skied to school or rode the runners of the garbage sleigh, and skied every afternoon on the rope-tow hill behind the Gray Rocks Inn,” Corcoran told a ski industry group for a biography in 2003. “At some point in those early St. Jovite years, my parents realized that I could ski, but couldn’t read, write, add or subtract very well despite our tutor’s best efforts.”

Corcoran was sent to New Hampshire for high school and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1954. He competed in the 1956 Olympics and again in 1960, when he placed fourth in the Giant Slalom — the best finish for an American man in the event until 2002, when Bode Miller won a silver medal.

Corcoran also earned a master’s degree from Harvard Business School in 1959.

After time spent learning the ski industry in Colorado, Corcoran returned to New Hampshire and purchased the Waterville Inn and 425 acres at the base of Mt. Tecumseh. He opened Waterville Valley Resort in the winter of 1966-67, and quickly attracted skiers from around the region, including the Kennedy family.

According to the Waterville Valley Resort Association, Corcoran became friends with Robert Kennedy while working on his senatorial campaign and the resort became a favorite for the Kennedys and their children. “Bobby’s Run” was named for Kennedy after his assassination in 1969.

Corcoran also worked to bring top competitions to Waterville Valley. Up until the 1990s, it hosted 11 World Cup events, including the 1969 World Cup Slalom and Giant Slalom finals.

“Tom touched many lives around the world. Lucky for all of us his legacy lives on in Waterville Valley — his dream, his vision, his creation, his hard work,” said Stearns, who served as Corcoran’s executive assistant for years.

Tim Smith, the resort’s president and general manager, said Corcoran deserves much credit for developing Waterville Valley and inspiring generations of ski industry workers around the country, but should mostly be remembered for his passion for skiing. Smith recalled getting a phone call this winter from Corcoran, who said simply: “I want to go skiing.”

Corcoran arrived at Smith’s office “hunched up” and looking his age, Smith said. But when they got off the chairlift, he was transformed.

“Get him up on skis and you could see that Olympic turn was still there,” Smith said. “That’s how I’m going to remember him.”

[RustyK]

[rogman]

When I was but a lad, went there with the family for a number of years. This was before Mt. Tecumseh was built. We stayed at the century old Waterville Inn, already a relic from another era; done in first by air conditioning, and then later the Salk vaccine. There aren't many of those old places left; Bretton Woods seems to have made it, and maybe the Balsams, but not many. Anyway, there was a ski area in Waterville Valley before Tecumseh: it was Snows Mountain, it had a pair of T-Bars that ran up the opposite side of the Valley from Tecumseh. There was a small beginner rope tow as well. Attached to the hotel was a relatively modern snack bar (more of a shack, really) close to the T-Bar.

The fire started in the kitchen. It was small and quickly put out, but it did generate a lot of smoke. So the help went around and opened up the rooms (it was mid winter, mid week, mid day). No problem. They finally got to their own rooms, directly above the kitchen. When they opened the doors, their room was engulfed. They ran to the hoses, coiled behind glass, unrolled them and turned on the water. At best a pitiful stream. The hotel had been retrofitted that previous summer with sprinklers and such, but the improved water pressure needed to make them work was still pending. The fire trucks had to come in from Campton, NH; 15 or 20 miles away. There was nothing in the Valley at the time. The workers struggled to evacuate the rooms; some of the elderly guests were of the belief that they were safer behind the doors in their rooms. It burned to the ground, save for the Snack Bar, which was located near some natural gas tanks the fire department didn't want to go up.

Went back with the family the following year, staying at a modern place called "The Four Ways", but it wasn't the same. My parents would never return.