Jim Shea, Jr. came from an honored American Winter Olympic family. His grandfather was Jack Shea, a Lake Placid native who had won two speed skating gold medals at the 1932 Winter Olympics. His father, Jim Shea, competed in cross-country skiing for the US at the 1964 Winter Olympics. Shea began skeleton racing in the mid-1990s and won a silver at the 1997 World Championships, his first major podium finish. In 1999 he moved up, winning the World Championships. In the seasonal World Cup, he placed third twice, in 1998-99 and 2000-01. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, Shea was expecting to be cheered on by his father and grandfather, but only two weeks before the Games, Jack Shea was killed in a car accident when his car was struck by a drunk driver. Jim Shea, Jr. remembered him by placing a small photo of him inside his helmut during his runs. Jim Shea, Jr. was also selected to recite the Athlete’s Oath at the Opening Ceremony in 2002, as his grandfather has done at the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Olympics.
Jim Shea, Jr. founded The Shea Family foundation which raises money to help kids in sports. A Lake Placid natice, he settled in Park City, Utah after the Winter Olympics with his wife, an ER doctor, where he is a Board Member of the Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and of Mountain Trails, a mountain bike trail, and serves on the Utah Board of Economic Development.
United States