Bob Beattie (skiing)

Robert Prime Beattie[1] (January 24, 1933 – April 1, 2018) was an American skiing coach, skiing promoter and commentator for ABC Sports and ESPN. He was head coach of the U.S. Ski Team from 1961 to 1969[2] and co-founded the Alpine Skiing World Cup in 1966. His work as a ski-racing commentator for ABC included four Winter Olympic Games, from 1976 through 1988.

Bob Beattie
Bob Beattie in 1966
Born	Robert Prime Beattie (1933-01-24)January 24, 1933 Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S.
Died	April 1, 2018(2018-04-01) (aged 85) Fruita, Colorado, U.S.
Education	Middlebury College
Occupation	Sportscaster, skiing coach
Years active	1955–2018
Spouse(s)	Kiki Cutter ​ ( m. 1971; div. 1973) Cheryl Britton ​ ( m. 1980; div. 1987) Marci Beattie (Until his death)

Early life

Beattie was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, on January 24, 1933,[2][3] to Robert Archibald Beattie (1904–1975), a sales manager for a roofing company,[4] and Katherine Simpson (née Prime; 1906–1995), a homemaker.[5][6] He had a younger brother, John M.[5] He graduated from Manchester Central High School in 1950.[5][7] He attended Middlebury College in Vermont, where he participated in several sports, including football, tennis, cross country, and skiing.[2][4] After graduating in 1955 with a degree in education, he remained at Middlebury as an assistant coach.[2]

Coaching career

In 1956, he was named acting coach of the school's ski team after coach Bobo Sheehan left to coach the alpine skiers on the 1956 U.S. Olympic Team.[2] In 1957, Beattie became the head skiing coach for the University of Colorado in Boulder, and during his tenure the team won the NCAA national titles in 1959 and 1960.[8][2] In 1961, the U.S. Ski Association named Beattie the U.S. Ski Team's head alpine coach.[9][10] He continued to work concurrently for the university until 1965.[9][11][12]

During his coaching years, he was known as a demanding coach,[13] driving his athletes hard.[2][14][4] At the 1964 Winter Olympics in Austria, the Beattie-coached U.S. team won two medals, both in the men's slalom: a silver earned by Billy Kidd and a bronze by Jimmie Heuga.[14] They were the country's first-ever Olympic medals in men's skiing.[2][14] During the 1968 Winter Olympics in France, the U.S. Ski Team won no medals, and Beattie was criticized for his tough coaching style.[4][15][16] He stepped down as the U.S. Ski Team's coach in April 1969.[4][17][18]

Promotion and commentating

In 1966, Beattie co-founded the World Cup for alpine skiing.[14] After stepping down as U.S. team coach in 1969, he founded the World Pro Ski Tour in 1970 and worked in promoting it.[19] He became a NASTAR commissioner in 1970.[14] ABC Sports hired him as a ski-racing commentator, where he was frequently paired with Frank Gifford, a former NFL running back. Beattie's television work included alpine commentary during ABC's coverage of four Winter Olympics: the games of 1976, 1980, 1984,[2] and 1988.[20] He also covered Volleyball at the 1984 Summer Olympics.[21] Beattie later worked as ABC's winter sports correspondent, which also involved non-alpine sports,[22] and occasionally worked as an announcer for non-winter sports on ABC's Wide World of Sports program.[23]

He continued to manage the World Pro Ski Tour until 1982.[14] He started hosting ESPN skiing programs in 1985.[23]

Beattie authored or co-authored three books,[9] including My Ten Secrets of Skiing (Viking Press, NY; 1968)[24] and Bob Beattie's Learn to Ski (Bantam Books, 1967).[25]

Honors

Beattie was given the AT&T Skiing Award in 1983.[26] He was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1984.[8] He was inducted into the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 1986.[9] He was the 1997 recipient of the International Ski Federation's Journalist Award.[27]

Personal life

Beattie had two children, Zeno and Susan, from his first marriage to Ann Dwinnell.[3][6] His second marriage was to Olympic skier Kiki Cutter[28][29] and lasted from 1971 to 1973.[4] He married a third time in 1980, to Cheryl Britton, a manager of a local secondhand clothing store,[4] and that marriage lasted until 1987. He was married to Marci Rose Beattie (née Cohen)[30] until his death in 2018.[6]

Beattie died on April 1, 2018, in Fruita, Colorado, from a long illness at the age of 85.[31][3][6]

References

1. "Robert Prime Beattie's Colorado Voter Registration". VoterRecords.
2. Morrill, Greg (February 28, 2013). "America's top alpine ski racing promoter". The Stowe Reporter. Stowe, Vermont. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
3. "Founder Of U.S. Ski Team, Bob Beattie, Passes Away". Team USA. April 2, 2018.
4. Martin, Frank W. (February 18, 1980). "Coaching or Kibitzing on the Olympics, Bob Beattie Is America's Indomitable Snowman". People. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
5. Brown, Janice (November 14, 2016). "Manchester NH Athlete, Legendary Skiing Coach and Promoter, Sports Commentator & Hall of Famer: Robert P. "Bob" Beattie (1933–2018)". Cow Hamsphire Blog.
6. Sandomir, Richard (April 3, 2018). "Bob Beattie, 85, Olympic Ski Coach and ABC Sports Analyst, Dies". The New York Times.
7. McCarthy McPhaul, Meghan (April 2, 2018). "Remembering ski icon Bob Beattie: Manchester native was top athlete, coach, promoter and innovator". New Hampshire Union Leader. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
8. "Robert Beattie". National Ski Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
9. "Bob Beattie – Athlete – 1986". Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum Hall of Fame. Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum. Archived from the original on February 23, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
10. "Bob Beattie". Aspen Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on January 20, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
11. "Post announces Beattie contract". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. June 30, 1965. p. 12.
12. "Beattie on leave". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. July 2, 1965. p. 17.
13. Eck, Frank H. (January 25, 1964). "Coach Beattie says U.S. skiers 2nd to Austrians". The Free Lance–Star. Fredericksburg, Virginia. Associated Press. p. 6.
14. Meyer, John (April 3, 2012). "Pioneer Bob Beattie set the stage for U.S. ski racers". The Denver Post. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
15. "Beattie ducks controversy; explains dropping McCoy". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. February 1, 1968. p. 13.
16. Jerome, John (November 1968). "The Beattie Machine". Skiing: 77.
17. "Beattie to quit on April 1 as U.S. ski coach". The Bulletin. Bend, Oregon. UPI. December 3, 1968. p. 6.
18. "Bob Beattie quitting U.S. skiing berths". The Morning Record. Meriden, Connecticut. Associated Press. December 3, 1968. p. 10.
19. "World Pro Skiing 1980–81". Skiing. supplement: 61. October 1980.
20. The Washington Post (February 13, 1988). "ABC has new technology for Winter Olympics". The Register-Guard. Eugene, Oregon. TV Week section, p. 3. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
21. "Games of the XXIII Olympiad, The {1984 Los Angeles Olympics} {1984/08/02}, Part 1: Boxing (Men), Volleyball (Women) (TV)". Paley Center for Media. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
22. Nidetz, Steve (December 8, 1989). "The Soviets Help Fuel A Most Chilling Adventure". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
23. "Bob Beattie, the patriarch of American skiing, dies at 85". The Denver Post. April 2, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
24. My Ten Secrets of Skiing. WorldCat. OCLC 000470298.
25. Bob Beattie's Learn to Ski. WorldCat. OCLC 900469.
26. Lochner, Bob (March 12, 1992). "Skiing: Dave McCoy Fits Well With This Elite Group". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
27. "Ski Writer John Meyer Honored at Beaver Creek". United States Ski and Snowboard Association. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
28. "Beattie-Cutter". The Bulletin. Bend, Oregon. Weddings and engagements. September 4, 1971. p. 3.
29. Anstine, Dennis (June 28, 1972). "Beatties keep skiing alive in June". The Bulletin. Bend, Oregon. p. 10.
30. "Marci Rose Beattie". BeenVerified.
31. Graham, Pat (April 2, 2018). "Bob Beattie, pioneer of Alpine skiing's World Cup circuit, dies at 85". The Boston Globe. Associated Press. Retrieved April 2, 2018.

External links

• Bob Beattie at Find a Grave