The seventh class to enter the Maine Ski Hall of Fame includes outstanding competitors, coaches, pioneers, volunteers and industry builders. The 2009 Class will be inducted at the annual banquet scheduled for Lost Valley, Friday, Oct. 23.

Since its inaugural induction in 2003, 57 skiers and one couple have been recognized for their contribution to Maine skiing, and in many cases fame well beyond the borders of the state. Maine has had a skier in every Olympics since 1948 and has had numerous skiers on the U.S. Ski Team.

Leading this year’s class is a young woman who won more international Gold Medals than any other Maine skier. Sara Billmeier grew up in Yarmouth, and lost a leg to bone cancer at age 5, started skiing at age 8, racing at 10 and made the U.S. Disabled Ski Team at 14, winning a World Championship gold medal that year. She went on to win six World Championships and 13 Olympic medals before entering Harvard Medical School.

After graduating from the University of Maine in 1923, Ted Curtis coached teams and won six state high school ski titles before he returned to his college alma mater in 1930. For the next 30 years, his ski teams were perennial Maine college champions, and the skiers he coached went on to excel at the national level. Among the skiers he coached were Bill Cummings and Olympians Charlie Akers and Bob Pidacks.

Herb Adams excelled as a four-event skier under Paul Kailey at Gould Academy in the early ’50s and went on to captain the ski team at the University of New Hampshire. Following college, he began a coaching career in Lake Placid, moving to his native Rumford in 1964 where his teams won both state and New England crowns, and many of his athletes went on to excel at higher levels. As a volunteer and an official, he has participated in many championships, including the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake and continues to serve at Black Mountain in Rumford.

Tom Bennett’s involvement in skiing goes back to the earliest days at Pleasant Mountain when he was instrumental in founding the Downeast Ski Club. His service as a volunteer includes ski patrolling and coaching racers. For decades, he was a presence at every race that took place at Pleasant Mountain and into the later years as Shawnee Peak.

It would be hard to find an individual with a greater impact on the business side of Maine skiing than Les Otten. Although the New York native was sent to Sunday River by new owner Killington in 1972, he quickly became a believer in Maine and its skiing potential. When he couldn’t get the parent company to allow him to expand the Maine resort, he convinced them to sell the area to him. That year, 1980, the area drew 32,000 skiers. A decade and half later the figure was close to 600,000 and Maine had one of the top five ski resorts in New England, primarily due to the vision of Les Otten.

When it came to skiing, Byron “Bud” Dow did it all. He operated a ski shop, raced, became a certified instructor, participated in the founding of the Maine Professional Ski Instructors, the pinnacle ski Club of Pittsfield, the Maine Ski Association and the Maine Ski Council. He is remembered most for his leadership in developing the Pinnacle Ski Slope in Pittsfield where countless families learned the sport. Once the slope was operating he organized the instructors and taught the locals how to ski and somehow found time to also officiate at competitions including the NCAAs.

Lisbon native John Litchfield started skiing at the age of four, competed at Edward Little in the ’30s, excelled in skiing at Dartmouth and was a member of the first U.S. Alpine Ski Team at the Pan American Winter Games in Chile in 1937. He was chosen for the 1940 Olympics, which were cancelled when World War II began. He was a ski instructor at Sun Valley from 1940 to 1942 when he joined the 10th Mountain Division and served as a captain in the Italian campaign, earning a Bronze Star.

John Roderick joined the Chisholm Ski Club as a teenager in the ’20s and skied out of that club for 68 years. He began as a jumper and maintained a Class A rating until age 57. During his career, he won at least 77 trophies, medals and bowls and served as chief of course at the 1950 World Championship held in Rumford. He assisted his fellow club member Chummy Broomhall in the cross country competition at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics. His final race was the Sunday River Langlauf in 1993 at the age of 82.

The Maine Ski Hall of Fame was organized in 2003 in order to honor those skiers who have built this important industry in Maine and contributed to it as competitors, coaches, instructors, builders, patrollers and volunteers. Information on the museum and the hall can be found at the web site www.skimuseumofmaine.org.