Bill Marolt (2006) - CU Athletic Hall of Fame - University of Colorado Athletics

Bill Marolt

Induction:
2006
Class:
1967

Four-Time NCAA Individual Champion
Member U.S. Olympic Ski Team
Coached 1984 U.S. Olympic Ski Team
CU Athletic Director (1984-96)

His University of Colorado athletic career spanned some three decades as athlete, coach and finally as athletic director. A U.S. Olympic ski team member while a student at CU in the 1960s (he competed in the ’64 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria), he is one of only six CU athletes to be a four-time NCAA individual champion: he was the national champion in the downhill (in both 1963 and 1965), in the slalom (in 1966) and in the alpine combined (1966). After graduating from CU with a degree in business, he took over as coach in 1969, and led the Buffs to an unprecedented seven straight national championships between 1972-78. He left CU to coach the U.S. Ski Team from 1979-84 as its director of alpine skiing, with the team winning a then-record five medals (three gold, two silver) in the ’84 Olympics, and returned to Colorado as just its third full-time athletic director later that fall. He held that position for 12 years, overseeing the construction of the Dal Ward Center and taking the department to new heights, as his decade-plus tenure leading the department cemented the Buffaloes on the national collegiate athletic map as it included success in almost all sports across the board, particularly football, women’s basketball, skiing and cross country. Under his direction, CU added three women’s sports, volleyball, golf and soccer. He is a member of the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame and CU’s Athletic Hall of Fame, and recently retired as the CEO and president of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association for 18 years (1996-2014). He also served as vice president of the International Ski Federation from 2002-14. He was born on Sept. 1, 1943, in Aspen, Colo., where he attended high school and lettered in several sports.

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