This is Dick. An official at Wild Wings!

Open, 23º at 7am. Forecast high 35º and a few flurries. Right this minute, the sun rise is beautiful and the sky is blue. Really nice spring skiing. Faster in the morning and slower as the temperature rises and the sun hits the snow. Faster again at the end of the day. Ian is on the Chickadee with the snow cat early this morning, it will be great!

Dick is a fixture at Wild Wings, and has been for quite a few years. He started skiing and adopted Chuck’s parents and us soon after. Between working on the trails in the fall, to shoveling snow onto the trails in the winter, Dick is, has been, and always will be a great part of Wild Wings. When you see Dick on the trails be sure to say thanks!!!

This was early on, the poster was for Bromley Outing Club Casino Night, so, early 80’s. This is before Dick started his racing career, notice the gaiters. Dick takes to posing naturally from many years of being photographed from his famous pitching and quarterback careers. He went on to be drafted by the Red Sox and is the only person I know to get kicked off the field by Ted Williams after developing a mental block and not being able to throw a strike.

The next step in Dick’s ski career was to take on ski racing. He trained and trained. In those days he was driving a passenger bus for a living, and training to ski race became his passion. He was driving a bus whose final stop was in Providence, RI. He would change into ski boots and roller ski around Providence. Change back into bus driver attire and drive the folks safely north. He put in 1000s of kilometers on the roller skis. And 1000 km a winter on skis. He bought better skis. Found boots that wouldn’t give him blisters, has a great friend, Rob, to wax his good race skis and went to many races. Some of his favorites were the Keskinada in Ottawa, the Craftsbury Marathon, Lake Placid Loppet, and he even did the Great Glen to Bretton Woods. Dick often made the local paper after a race, it was the mustache icicle that got him the cover.

The famous Dicksicle.

Dick somewhere along the line started working on ski trails. Always willing and able to lend a hand. Pulling out beaver ponds, building bridges, weed eating trails flat, cutting trees out with his chain saw, shoveling snow, or cutting back the sides of the trails. He lays corduroy in wet spots and covers it with branches and snow.

We are so very grateful Dick has adopted us. My goal is to go on to ski as well and as long as he has. Last Sunday, at the end of a quite a few good ski days, Dick came in looking very tired. “Not a bad day,” he said,  “Skied the Chickadee, 3 Loons, a couple of Upper Blue Jays, Middle and Lower Blue Jay and all the lower trails.”