Talk:Steve McKinney (skier)

Notes on establishing the Steve McKinney article on Wikipedia

I'm proud to finally establish this article on Wikipedia about Steve McKinney, who was arguably speed skiing's greatest champion and ambassador.

With that said, let's get down to the business of improving his Wikipedia article.

Birth date, birth place, full name

I only have Steve's year of birth listed so far. By the sources I've seen, he was born in 1953, and Dick Dorworth wrote in 1999 that he first met the infant Steve in the winter of 1953.

Steve "Stevie" McKinney, full name Stephan (pronounced, "Stefan") Milligan McKinney, born August 18, 1953, in Baltimore, Maryland. His parents were Frances Warfield Naylor McKinney and Rigan McKinney. Stevie's biological father was attorney Larry Naylor of Stevenson, Maryland, but he was raised by his mother and his older sisters.

They McKinney Family spent part of the year at Blarney Farm, their thoroughbred ranch in Lexington, Kentucky, where they were immersed in the equestrian world. When it was skiable in the West, Frances took her brood to Mount Rose, near Reno, Nevada. Frances shared her love of skiing with her 7 children, and she raised a family of gifted athletes. When Dick Dorworth talks about meeting Stevie as a baby, he likely met him in a suitcase at the base of the lift while the older kids and Frances were doing laps. They'd ski down, check on the baby (Steve, or later Tamara), ride the chair up, repeat.

Stevie married Toraun Noel McKinney in 1984, in Meyers, California. On Father's Day, June 16, 1985, his son Stefan Nicolas McKinney was born. Arriving in 4 hours, and weighing 10 1/2 pounds, Stefan took after his father in speed of arrival and robust health. Toraun (talk) 00:05, 20 June 2015 (UTC)Cheers, Toraun McKinney

At this point, I've only seen one source that suggests Steve was born in Reno. This is not definitive by any means, but it's the best I've got, for now. Anyone who can say with authority where he was born, please share.

Steve's full name is also currently not available on online sources. I won't even speculate as to whether his full first name was Steven or Stephen, or a more unusual spelling.

World records

I'm not sure how many records Steve held or broke during his speed skiing career. I'm sure there are better resources available than the very few currently available online. The current number I've cited is seven, but the actual number may be different. I'm pretty sure these include competitions where Steve set a new record, only to see the record broken just minutes later.

Also, please make any corrections to the cited speeds if the accuracy is lacking.

My position on whether or not a record was "official" should come down to the same standard as in any recognized competition, such as the Olympics. If an Olympic swimmer sets a world record during an early heat, it's still the recognized world record, even though it might be broken shortly after. I think in some of these speed skiing competitions, the world record may have changed hands several times. Steve's 130-mph run in 1987 appears to have been a world record that stood very briefly, so for a short time he was the record holder once more.

I would love to see a more definitive chronology of exactly when and where the speed skiing records were set, especially if they include competitive battles where records fell over and over in a matter of minutes. I think those are relevant. I don't agree with the thinking that the record should only go to the record-setter who won a particular competition.

Extreme skiing and extreme sports

While Steve was by many accounts a pioneering figure in what would later be called extreme skiing and extreme sports, specific sources are few. I think later skiing icons such as Glen Plake and Scot Schmidt followed the standard McKinney (and others) set at Squaw. I think sources are out there, so I encourage the Wiki community to improve these. As for now, we have what's available.

Mountaineering

There are probably more definitive resources for Steve's climbing history than The North Face website, but that's what we have for the time being.

Death

Just to be clear, the reference I've cited in describing Steve's death is a newspaper account in the Los Angeles Times (or, more accurately, a webpage transcription of that article). However, it is a source, so for now it's what informs this section. By many anecdotal accounts, Steve's death was because of a drunk driver, and that before the accident, he had crawled into the back of his car to sleep simply because he was tired, not because of car trouble. Dick Dorworth mentions this in his 1999 memoir of Steve, but his story is anecdotal, so there's still a question over whether Steve's car had a problem or not. The drunk driving part of the story should be confirmed; I don't think drunk driving should be mentioned as a cause until we have a source at hand to cite it. In any event, improvements to this account and sources are encouraged.

Sources

Admittedly, sources for this article could be stronger as a whole, but several are adequate and scholarly. I intend to tidy up the existing sources. I'd like to find a copy of Steve's article in the Spring 1975 SKI magazine. That would be a good additional resource for his skiing philosophy as well as his first world record run in 1974. lagrange5 (talk) 18:56, 25 May 2010 (UTC)