Billy Kidd
| Billy Kidd | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Full name | William Winston Kidd |
| Born | April 13, 1943 Burlington, Vermont, United States |
| World Cup | |
| Seasons | 3 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Additional podiums | 2 |
| Total podiums | 4 |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's alpine skiing | ||
Competitor for the  United States |
||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Silver | 1964 Innsbruck | Slalom |
| FIS Alpine World Ski Championships | ||
| Gold | 1970 Val Gardena | Combined |
| Bronze | 1964 Innsbruck | Combined |
| Bronze | 1970 Val Gardena | Slalom |
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009) |
William Winston "Billy" Kidd (born April 13, 1943 in Burlington, Vermont) is a former alpine ski racer, a member of the U.S. Ski Team from 1962-70 and a pro racer from 1970-72. His full name is William Kidd because he is a direct descendent of William Kidd, the famous pirate.[citation needed]
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Kidd grew up in the 1950s in the ski town of Stowe, Vermont, where his family ran a motel, and he became a top junior ski racer at Stowe with the Mount Mansfield Ski Team. Kidd skied for the University of Vermont in Burlington before being named to the U.S. Ski Team in 1962.
[edit] Skiing career
A silver medalist in the slalom at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Kidd was the first American man (along with Jimmie Heuga, who took bronze in the same race) to earn an Olympic medal in alpine skiing. Both Kidd and Heuga were just 20 years old at the time.[1]
Kidd also took third in the combined, then a non-medal event in the Olympics (but a world championship medal event). He finished 8th in the giant slalom and 16th in the downhill.
In the last non-World Cup season of 1966, he won three big races in Europe and was actually outracing Jean-Claude Killy. Kidd suffered the first of two major injuries that almost ended his career, an ankle sprain, which resulted in a tendon operation. Later the same year he broke his leg in downhill training just before the 1966 World Championships, held in August in Portillo, Chile. The injury kept also him out of the first World Cup season of 1967. During this injury time he returned to college at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
The following year he took fifth in the giant slalom at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. He took 15th in the downhill, but did not finish the slalom, held in thick fog. Following the Olympics, he won a World Cup slalom in Aspen in March and finished 7th in the overall World Cup standings, the best from North America. For the 1968 World Cup season, Kidd finished in the top ten in all three events: 8th in giant slalom, 9th in downhill, and 10th in slalom.
At the 1970 World Championships in Val Gardena, Italy, Kidd won the gold medal in the combined and the bronze in the slalom. Following the conclusion of the world championships in mid-February, Kidd retired from the World Cup circuit, then immediately joined the new pro circuit, started by former U.S. coach Bob Beattie. Kidd won the pro championship the same year, the only racer to hold world titles in the two circuits at once.[2]
[edit] Steamboat Springs
Due to injuries, Kidd retired from pro racing in 1972. He relocated to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in 1970 and has since been identified with the Steamboat Ski Resort, where he continues to serve as its director of skiing. During the winter months, guests can ski free with Billy every day at 1pm and get ski tips, instruction and stories about the Olympics and skiing.[citation needed]
Kidd attended the University of Vermont before being named to the U.S. Ski Team, and graduated from the University of Colorado in 1969 with a degree in economics.[3] Kidd is part Native American (Abenaki), and is captain of the Native American Olympic Ski Team.[4]
[edit] World Cup victories
Two (2) World Cup victories,[5] 4 podiums, and 19 top-ten finishes.
| Date | Location | Race |
|---|---|---|
| March 16, 1968 | Aspen, CO |
Slalom |
| February 28, 1969 | Squaw Valley, CA |
Slalom |
[edit] References
- ^ Lauren Moran (February 6, 2010). "Olympic History: Billy Kidd triumphs at 1964 Olympic Games". Steamboat Pilot & Today. http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2010/feb/06/olympic-history-billy-kidd-triumphs-1964-olympic-g/. Retrieved 2010-03-17.
- ^ U.S. Ski Team
- ^ "Billy Kidd - MSN Encarta". Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. http://www.webcitation.org/5kwQ8N8zZ.
- ^ Snow-Riders.org - famous Abenaki - accessed 2010-02-14
- ^ "FIS Biography". International Ski Federation. http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/613.html?competitorid=30276&type=result&category=WC&discipline=&position=3§or=AL. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
[edit] External links
- FIS-Ski.com - World Cup - top ten finishes - Billy Kidd
- FIS-ski.com - World Cup season standings - Billy Kidd - 1968-70
- Ski-db.com - results - Bill Kidd
- Steamboat.com - Billy Kidd - faces of Steamboat
- U.S. Ski Team.com - Vermont Ski Hall of Fame - 2006 induction - Billy Kidd
- Vermont Ski Museum.org - Hall of Fame - 2006 inductees
- Sports Illustrated - 1964 Olympics - 17-Feb-1964 article
- Stars and Stripes - archives - 09-Feb-1964 - European edition
- Sports Illustrated - cover - 08-March-1965 - Billy Kidd
- Sports Illustrated - cover - 05-Feb-1968 - 1968 Olympics preview - Billy Kidd & Jimmy Heuga
- Sports Illustrated - "Kidd Comes in From the Old Cold" - by Dan Jenkins - p. 42 - 16-Feb-1970
- Sports Illustrated - "The Spider Who Finally Came in From The Cold" - by Gwilym S. Brown - p. 98 - 20-Dec-1971
|
|||||
- 1943 births
- Living people
- People from Burlington, Vermont
- Abenaki people
- American alpine skiers
- Olympic alpine skiers of the United States
- Alpine skiers at the 1964 Winter Olympics
- Alpine skiers at the 1968 Winter Olympics
- American people of Native American descent
- People from Colorado
- University of Colorado alumni
- Olympic medalists in alpine skiing
