John Balfanz

John Balfanz started ski jumping at age six, and won his first ski jumping competition the next year. By the time he was 15 he was the Central US Junior Champion. Balfanz served in the US Army from 1957-59, first at Ft. Carson, Colorado, and then in Karlsrue, Germany, which prevented him from making the 1960 Winter Olympic team. But he did compete in the 1962 World Championships, and in 17 international meets in Europe in 1963, winning two, and placing second at the famed Holmenkollen. In 1965 he set a US record with a jump of 325 feet (99 m) at Iron Mountain, Michigan. Balfanz retired after the 1968 Winter Olympics, having the best international record of any US ski jumper ever, and was inducted into the American Ski Jumping Hall of Fame in 1980.