JAY MARTIN
Age 68
Minneapolis, MN
‘64 & ‘68 Olympics, ‘66 FIS,
National Champion 68, National Judge
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| Jay Martin... with one of Dave Hicks's Northlands! Hopefully HIcks got a share of the style points on this one. |
As with many of you my second family is the ski jumping
community. I ran the Mpls ski club
program which for many years ran two sites, Theodore Wirth and Bush Lake. I was
program director and coach from 1972 until 2004. I loved being an athlete, coach, and all the
great times we all had together. That's
the motivation that keeps me going.
I've a few stories to share. I traveled a lot like most of you but
I went to college in Laramie Wyoming from 1963 to 1968 so getting to some of
the events became an issue. One of those
times was my trip to Ishpeming. The
weather delayed my Friday arrival day to Saturday. I arrived in Marquette
around noon with the tournament starting at 1pm. I got a taxi and had him turn on the radio so
I could listen to the event. I heard the Star Spangled Banner and knew I had to
change. I was changing into my jump gear in the taxi with my skis hanging out
the window. The tournament had started
and was well on its way when I arrived.
I ran up to the truck with bibs and put mine on. With maybe 12 numbers
in front of me, I ran up the stairs. In those days that's the way it was
done. Plus this was the 1st
round. Practice was over. I got to the top with little to spare. Out of breath
I got the flag and kicked out down the ramp. I hit the take of perfectly,
sailed through the air and landed. I had
the longest jump of the round.
Another was the red eye plane ride and bus ride to the NCAA
Championships at Crystal Mt, WA. I was
late again and missed the practice. It
was snowing and blustery. Since I was late they put me up first. There had been so much snow that winter, the
in-run had to be cut out of the snow down about 8ft to get a good R-1. I didn't realize it but during the wait
between practice and the event the snow had built up in the R-1. I got the flag and down I went. I was pressing extremely forward so I could
move forward fast and powerful. I hit
the powder snow in the R-1 and walked of the take off. To save myself, I did a
swan dive, skis behind me. Lit on my
chest and slid to a stop, healthy.
Brushed the snow off, put my coat on and watched the rest of the event.
That's on TV.
How about this one. It was Nationals at Berlin, NH. On my first ride I had walked up to the top
with time to spare. I put my skis up in
the corner of the box. Moments later
someone bumped them and one goes sailing through a hole off the back of the
jump to land in the snow below. We
yelled down for someone to get my ski. I
ran down the scaffold and met the guy at the bottom of the stairs. I grabbed my ski and ran to the top watching
the skiers go by. Ansten Samuelson was
the guy in front of me. He waited,
shuffling his skis back and forth, ‘til I reached the top. Of f he went. I threw my skis down, slapped them on, again
out of breath, got the flag. Down I
went, hit the take-off, flew high over the knoll and lit setting a new hill
record. Not ever to be broken.
Then there was the time in Lake Placid 1968 for the Olympic tryouts.
We had just arrived back from the Springer Tourney to LP on Tuesday for the
weekend competition. My skis and luggage
got lost. So no practice ‘til
Friday. Still with no equipment, I
begged to borrow some equipment for a couple of jumps. Coy Hill, rest his soul, said he'd take a
couple and let me use his stuff. He was 5'9 .
I was 5' 11. He wore size 42
boots. I wore size 44. I poured into his outfit took his skis and
away I went. With my toes curled, my
long bare arms hanging out from his sweater and skis too short, I had a couple
of jumps. He said, if my stuff didn't
come in time, we would have time in the round to do a switch. After practice,
when we arrive back at the lodge, my equipment had come. On Saturday with my
own equipment, I place 3rd behind Bakke and Balfanz.
Some of you would never think of doing this. Because of the 64
season and Steamboat, Hicks and I were down to one ski each out of the two pair we each
got from Northland for the Olympics. So
in 1965 I skied with his 8'2 and my 8'4 Northland. I'm using them in the picture.
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