Remembrance of Skiing with Damon O'Neal

Over the last few years, I've been fortunate to correspond with many Bowdoin Skiing alumni. Recently, I got an email from Hank Haskell '56, who shared a thoughtful piece he'd written in honor of Damon O'Neal, brother of Hank's former teammate Roly O'Neal '59.

I was once an avid skier. I learned how to ski at Cardigan Mountain School in Canaan, New Hampshire, and later found myself on the ski team at Bowdoin College. Bowdoin’s ski team was pretty informal when I was there (1952-1956) and in my senior year, there were two seniors on the team — Paul DeBrule from Laconia, New Hampshire, and me — Paul was primarily a jumper and cross-country guy and I did slalom and downhill, albeit no expert.

Bowdoin accepted a group of excellent skiers three years after I arrived. These young tigers included Charlie Long, Charlie Jackson and Bucky Owen and featured John Christie from Camden, Maine, Bruce Chalmers from Brighton, Maine, and Roly O’Neal from North Conway, New Hampshire — all terrific skiers. With their expertise, and management by Charlie Leighton, Bowdoin’s ski team became one of the best in New England. John Christie recently told me, “We did end up competing with the B boys and even in the Winter Carnivals at Dartmouth and Middlebury. In 1958 we won the State Intercollegiates, beating the vaunted UMaine team that included Olympian-to-be Charlie Akers — our crowning achievement..."

One weekend I joined Roly O’Neal at his family’s house in North Conway. I met Roly’s Mom and Dad and his younger brother, Damon. Roly told me his brother was a better skier than he was, but I really wondered how he could be at so young an age (age 13). Roly and his family were modest people, and no one told me much about Damon. Roly mentioned we would be skiing the next day with Toni Matt. The name meant nothing to me at the time.

I ate dinner with the O’Neals and we talked about skiing the next morning at Cranmore Mountain. We hit the sack early and ate a wonderful breakfast the next morning — cooked for us by Roly and Damon’s mother. We walked up to Cranmore Mountain with our skis on our backs, and met Hannes Schneider, the head of the world-famous Eastern Slope Ski School, and met Toni — who would be skiing with Roly, Damon, and me that day.

Toni Matt lead the way as we rode the Tramway up Cranmore Mountain. He told us we’d start out on the back-side of the mountain, to limber our legs up, before setting up a slalom course on the main slope. Off we went — Toni, Damon, Roly and I. Wow! I watched the gifted Austrian, Toni, head down the slope with his skis practically glued together and Damon and Roly right behind. It was obvious to me that this would be quite a day. I had never seen such a great young skier, as this teen-ager, Damon, was that day. He was right with Toni Matt at every turn as they all three glided down the mountain, with me trying to keep up. I think I skied the best I have ever skied in my life that remarkable day and just couldn’t believe how talented Roly’s younger brother was.

I remember breaking to eat the sandwiches that Mrs. O’Neal had made for us. We talked together and I learned that Toni had schussed the headwall at Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, in 1939. I had no idea that we were eating lunch with, “the fastest skier to schuss the Headwall at Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mount Washington. His time for the 8-mile race was 6 minutes 29.4 seconds, with a top speed of 85 MPH."

The truly remarkable thing I remembered that winter day in 1956, however, was skiing and having so much fun with a fantastic young skier — Damon O’Neal. Damon was a delightful young man, who adored his brother Roly and his parents and skied with me as if I were a pro myself. I knew I had skied that day with a potential future U.S. Olympic leader. As Roly and I drove back to Brunswick, Maine, we talked about Damon’s achievements and hopes.

On March 15, 1959, Damon O’Neal was killed, “…in a skiing accident at Sugarloaf Mountain, Maine, as he was preparing for the Junior National Alpine Ski Championships. As a 16 year-old, Damon had won the New Hampshire Skimeister award a month earlier by the widest margin in the history of the competition. Local leaders of the skiing community had raised funds for Damon to go to Europe to help him prepare for the Olympics.”

I was honored to have known Damon and not only to have known him but to have skied with this gifted skier and outstanding young gentleman. The world skiing community lost a great young man that tragic day in March 1959 — a young man who has been an inspiration to me in the many years I have participated in the great sport of skiing.