Jimmie Heuga

Jimmie Heuga
Personal information
Full name	James Frederic Heuga
Born	September 22, 1943(1943-09-22) Tahoe City, California, United States
Died	February 8, 2010(2010-02-08) (aged 66) Boulder, Colorado

Medal record
Men’s alpine skiing
Competitor for the United States
Olympic Games
Bronze	1964 Innsbruck	Slalom

James Frederic "Jimmie" Heuga (September 22, 1943 – February 8, 2010) was an American alpine ski racer who became one of the first two members of the U.S. men's team to win an Olympic medal in his sport. After multiple sclerosis prematurely ended his athletic career, he became an advocate of exercise and activity to combat the disease.

Heuga was born in Tahoe City, California on September 22, 1943. He grew up in Squaw Valley, California, where his father Pascal, a Basque immigrant from southern France, operated the resort's cable car. Jimmie Heuga was on skis at age two and began to compete in the sport at age 5; he appeared in a Warren Miller ski film at age 9. Heuga was named to the U.S. Ski Team in 1958, becoming the youngest man ever to make the squad as a 15-year-old.

He went to the University of Colorado, where he met and was coached by Bob Beattie. A three-time letterman, Heuga won the 1963 NCAA championship in the slalom. With Beattie also leading the U.S. Ski Team, Heuga, along with fellow Buffaloes Buddy Werner and Bill Marolt (and future CU alumnus Billy Kidd), formed the squad's nucleus for the 1964 Winter Olympics. Both Kidd and Heuga became the first American men to win Olympic medals in Alpine skiing, respectively capturing silver and bronze in the slalom.

• finished sixth in the slalom and fourth in the combined at the 1966 World Championships at Portillo, Chile
• joined the pro racing tour following the 1968 Winter Olympics where he was 7th in the slalom and 10th in the giant slalom.
• was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1970, which derailed his ski racing career at age 27.
• founder of Can Do Multiple Sclerosis, formerly The Heuga Center for Multiple Sclerosis.
• the first NASTAR National Pacesetter (1968)

Heuga died on February 8, 2010, at Boulder Community Hospital in Boulder, due to complications that from multiple sclerosis.

External links

• Article in Ski Magazine
• mscando.org – Can Do Multiple Sclerosis
• University of Colorado Athletics – Hall of Fame – Jimmie Heuga
• Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame – Jimmie Heuga
• Sports Illustrated – cover – 05-Feb-1968 – Olympics preview – Billy Kidd & Jimmie Heuga
• Sports Illustrated – 17-Feb-1964 article
• Stars and Stripes – archives – 09-Feb-1964 – European edition
• FIS-ski.com – Jimmie Heuga – Top Ten results – Olympics & World Championships
• Ski-db.com – results – Jimmie Heuga
• Weber, Bruce. "Jimmie Heuga, an Early U.S. Ski Medalist, Dies at 66," The New York Times - Friday, February 12, 2010.
• US Ski Team.com - Olympic medalist Jimmie Heuga dies - 2010-02-08