Olympians, visionaries, coaches, officials and a journalist comprise the fifth-annual group of nine inductees into the Maine Ski Hall of Fame, to be recognized Friday night at Lost Valley Ski Area in Auburn.

Like Sunday River co-founder Murray "Mike" Thurston, each of the other men in the ring of honor - Jim Miller, Win Robbins, Galen Sayward, Tom Upham, Dick Bell, Charles Broomhall, Bob Flynn and Dave Irons - has strong local ties.

Miller and Upham each represented the United State Nordic Ski Team at the Winter Olympics. Miller, a native of the Rumford-Mexico area, skied with the Combined team at the 1972 Games in Munich. Upham competed in four different events for a flurry of state championship teams at Edward Little High School before reaching the 1968 Olympics.

Robbins was a collegiate skier, but he is most notable for using his engineering prowess to build modern ski lifts at Sugarloaf/USA, among other resorts.

Sayward has moved through the ranks from competitor to coach to official, adjudicating numerous international events.

Bell was one of the founders of Sugarloaf, in addition to his major influence at Titcomb Mountain in Farmington.

The Broomhall name is synonymous with skiing in Rumford and Mexico. Charles' career peaked with a national combined championship in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Flynn, a faculty fixture at Bates College for 42 years, adds the Ski Hall of Fame to his memberships in the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame and Maine Baseball Hall of Fame. He is credited with bringing the NCAA Skiing Championships to Sunday River and Black Mountain in 1976.

Irons has been a prominent ski columnist and broadcaster for nearly 50 years. His weekly column has appeared in the Sun Journal since the debut of the Sunday paper in 1983.

For more information about the banquet or the Hall of Fame, go to www.skimaine.com.

-By Kalle Oakes