Jimmy Griffith (2022) - CU Athletic Hall of Fame - University of Colorado Athletics

Jimmy Griffith

Induction:
2022
Class:
1951

Considered CU’s first star in skiing … He was on the U.S. National Team and was named to the Olympic squad (in November ’51) and was preparing to go to the 1952 Olympics when he died in a training accident. He suffered a nasty fall in a downhill training run at Utah’s Alta ski area on Dec. 2, 1951 and died four days later of a blood clot (he was just 22) … In line at the time to become the school’s second Olympian behind David Bolen (track, 1948 London summer games) … Had qualified for the Olympic trials in ’48 but an eye injury kept him from competing … CU’s athletic director at the time, Harry Carlson, was quoted as saying: “Some young athletes are inclined to think that the little puddle of fame they are sitting in is an ocean. Jimmy Griffith was more likely to hail the puddle sitters than to think himself worthy of notice. James Albert Griffith was one of the ten finest athletes ever to attend the University of Colorado” … Noted ski writer, Jon Mentzer, labeled him as Ketchum's first Olympic skier and, "Potentially one of the greatest skiers ever developed in this country” … He skied from 1947 through 1951 for the Buffaloes, taking a sabbatical in 1949 after skiing in one race before he returned home to coach that winter in Sun Valley (in that one event, he finished fourth in the downhill and eighth in cross country) … As a freshman in ’47, his win in the downhill at Western State’s Intercollegiate meet was the first victory ever by a Buff skier (winning by a gaudy 10 seconds) … Limited at times due to illness, he won four collegiate races, with nine top five finishes and 18 top 10 efforts (known) … As a sophomore, he was the No. 7 skier in the U.S. Amateur Rankings … While away from CU in ’49, he finished third in both the downhill and slalom at the U.S. Nationals … In the first Collegiate National Championships in 1950, he was second in the slalom, CU’s first podium finish in the national championship meet which began four years earlier … Team captain and co-coach as a senior in 1951 … He was the 1950 U.S. Downhill Champion and went on to ski in the 1950 World Championships (in Aspen, the first held outside of Europe), he was headed for a bronze medal in the downhill but crashed 50 feet above the finish line; it would have been the first medal by an American skier on the world stage (he crawled the rest of the way and finished 18th) … As the first CU student to ski for the U.S. in world competition, he was invited as one of two American skiers to travel to Chile and Argentina national championships in 1950; he returned as the Combined Ski Champion of South America, as he won all the downhill races … He graduated from high school a year early to join an older sister (Mary Jane) at CU; she also graduated from CU and skied on the women’s club team … After graduating from CU with a degree in Pre-Med in the spring of 1951, he entered the U.S. Air Force, in synch while he remained on the U.S. National Team; he was on official leave when he suffered the accident that cost him his life … CU’s early home meets were originally named the Jimmy Griffith Memorial … He was inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1971 and previously into the Sun Valley Winter Sports Hall of Fame … Elected the “King of Campus” in the 1949 CU Winter Carnival … Born on Feb. 14, 1929 in Boise, Idaho, he passed away on Dec. 6, 1951 at the age of 22.