USA BOBSLED/SKELETON HOLDS HALL OF FAME CEREMONY TO HELP CLOSE THE WORLD CUP SEASON
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by Abby Slenker
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (March 20, 2024) – The international bobsled and skeleton season will end in rousing fashion this weekend in Lake Placid with the final races of the BMW IBSF World Cup season, March 22-24. Among the highlights of the three-day competition will be the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Hall of Fame induction ceremony, featuring four new members.
Lake Placid photographer Kay Jones, affectionately known as Mrs. Zag for her famous images taken in that notorious corner of the original track, will be inducted posthumously as will the two-man bobsled team of Gilbert Colgate, Jr., of New York City and Dick Lawrence, of West Chazy, N.Y. The duo won a bronze medal in the 1936 Winter Olympics. They also captured the 1934 North American Championship.
David Jones, Kay’s son, will accept his mother’s induction. The festivities will include Kay’s interview on ABC Television during the Lake Placid Winter Olympics with legendary announcer Curt Gowdy. Jones worked for the Associated Press at the time of the Games.
David Kurtz, a Pennsylvania attorney who became a World Cup skeleton racer, captained two U.S. Olympic Bobsled Teams and became an international official within the governing body of the two sports (IBSF), will be in attendance to accept his membership.
The Hall of Fame event will begin at 5:30 PM on March 23 after competition closes on the adjacent track. IBSF awards will be held at 4:30, followed by the induction. It is all open to the public in the new Mountain Lodge at the Olympic Sports Complex. There is no admission charge.
The Dew Drop Inn in Saranac Lake, one of the bobsled community’s greatest story-telling hang-outs going back some 50 years and depicted as such in a recent feature story in Adirondack Life magazine, will return to the fold at the induction event by providing pizza hors d’oeuvres.
Among the induction speakers will be NBC bobsled commentator John Morgan and Tim Rowland, who penned the Adirondack Life piece. Tuffy Latour, Chairman of the USABS Hall of Fame, will serve as Master of Ceremonies.
Latour will conclude the event by inviting the attendees to continue the celebration at Zig Zag’s Pub on Main Street, where Bushmills Irish Whiskey, the world’s oldest licensed distillery dating back to 1608, has graciously agreed to act as sponsor.
It will be a memorable way to conclude the 2023-2024 season, and sets the stage, both on and off the ice, for the 2025 IBSF World Bobsled and Skeleton Championships in Lake Placid.
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About USA Bobsled/Skeleton
USA Bobsled/Skeleton is the national governing body for the sports of bobsled and skeleton racing in the United States. Based in Lake Placid, NY, USA Bobsled/Skeleton oversees the development and training of American athletes at all levels of competition.
