SKI JUMPING COACH INDUCTED INTO MASTERS HALL OF FAME

By Tom Ricchio

Brady Emerson was junior ski jumping.  He loved ski jumping from an early age when he jumped in Beloit, Wis., and like most of us, traveled around the Central U.S. to all the tournaments every winter.

Brady’s jumping career ended with a kick to the knee by a not so friendly horse, but instead of walking away from the sport, he spent the rest of his life coaching junior skiers, and literally contributing to the molding of hundreds of young kids into responsible young men.  We all were pretty well behaved, I think in part because of the fear of “getting the boot” from Brady.  Brady not only taught us to ski jump, but taught us to be responsible, and respect others and their property.  He stressed that unacceptable behavior would not just reflect on an individual, but on the entire Racine Ski Club.

Brady moved from Beloit to Racine where he became involved with the Racine Ski Club.  There was a small K20 meter hill in the center of town where kids had easy access, some even riding the city bus to come and jump.  A jump of 60 feet was huge on the hill, and I remember a tree along the side of the hill at about the 55 foot mark that if someone landed there it was considered a good jump. 

Brady was employed by the Racine Electric Co. for years, and had an old gas generator that provided power to the lights on the hill so we could jump during the week.  That thing was really loud, but it got the job done.

The weather in Southeastern Wisconsin made keeping the hill ready to ski a challenge.  Very mild temperatures were common, and we spent many hours with Brady running around town with his trailer searching for snow to haul to the hill.  As I remember, for every jump we took, it felt like we put in one hour of work.  Brady taught us the work was just part of ski jumping.  All of us kids accepted that, and always helped out at any hill we jumped on.

Although the weather was bad, and the hill was small, Brady produced many very good ski jumpers, including Tim Kingsfield, who won the Junior National Championships and was named to the U.S. Ski Team.

Early every winter, Brady would load up his old Nash with more kids than the car was designed to carry, and head north to find enough snow where we could ski.  Often times those trips ended in Iola.  Brady loved Iola, and had many close friends here.  The jumps there were larger than ours in Racine, and they had a club house with bunk beds in the basement where we could sleep.  We would usually spend the week between Christmas and New Years jumping here.  Those trips were some of the best times we ever had.  Nothing to do but ski jump…life was good.

It was from those trips to Iola almost fifty years ago that I also fell in love with the small town and the local people.  Now I reside here and am involved in junior ski jumping much like Brady was in Racine.  We recently installed a stainless steel track on the top portion of one of the junior jumps, and covered the landing hill with plastic mats from Finland. This allows the kids to ski jump during the summer months.  This particular jump is one of our smallest, with jumps up to 100 feet possible. It is just the right size hill so kids will be able to learn to jump, just as we did in Racine many years ago. Annually the Iola Winter Sports Club holds a summer ski jumping tournament on this hill.  The event is held in Brady’s memory, and is known as the “Brady Emerson Memorial Junior Ski Jumping Tournament”.  Some of the best junior jumpers in the U.S. come to Iola every September to compete, along with one of Brady’s kids that is now a grandpa, and abut to turn 60 years old….that would be me.

On February 3^rd the Masters National Championships were held in Iola.  20 Master jumpers, age 30 older, from all over the U.S. came to jump and have a great time.  Over many years it has become tradition to induct new honorees into the Masters Hall of Fame during our awards ceremony.  This year, Brady Emerson was inducted, and it was my great honor to present a commemorative plaque to his son, Ken.  Brady now joins the list of many other great ski-jumpers in the Masters Hall of Fame, immortalized forever on top of the Olympic ski jump in Lake Placid, New York. He will never be forgotten in the world of ski jumping, and will always be remembered in the hearts of the hundreds of kids he helped over his many years of coaching.