Ben Finley & Art Clay: Brotherhood of Skiing

Wild Ideas Worth Living

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🗓️ 2 March 2020

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1974, Ben Finley and his friend Art Clay founded the National Brotherhood of Skiers, the largest group of African American skiers in the country.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Why skiing of all sports?
0:02.0	Because it's exhilarating.
0:05.0	Yeah, I mean, the feel of being a jackass with five foot boards on your feet,
0:12.0	flying down the mountain to 30 miles an hour, it's like riding a roller
0:16.3	coaster. I mean, it's the difference is completely different than scuba diving or sailing.
0:26.4	These are genteel things.
0:29.2	You know, skiing is not genteel.
0:31.9	It's extremely active and occurs in marvelously beautiful places.
0:40.0	It took Ben Finley a few lessons before he fell in love with skiing at the age of 24 in 1963.
0:50.0	But something stood out to him on the slopes.
0:53.7	He didn't see other people that looked like him.
0:56.0	Eventually, Ben joined a ski club, but still he dreamed of seeing hundreds, even thousands
1:00.9	of other African Americans gliding down the hills and experiencing
1:04.9	the exhilarating joy of skiing alongside him. Little did he know that ten years later
1:11.0	he and his friend Art Clay would found the largest gathering of African American
1:15.2	skiers in the country an accomplishment that would lead them to becoming the first African Americans
1:21.1	ever inducted into the Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame this March of 2020.
1:26.0	I'm Shelby Stanger and this is wild ideas worth living.
1:42.0	Ben Finley is a rock star. I mean this man recently turned 81 and he's still skiing. Even though these days he's mostly avoiding black diamond runs
1:46.2	He still is a passion for getting more African Americans engaged in winter sports a cause champion by the organization he co-founded, the National
1:55.2	Brotherhood of Skiers. For someone who initially got roped into skiing by an old
1:59.6	girlfriend, his segue to the sport has been quite the adventure.
	...

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