Gordon "Mickey" S. Cochran

Gordon T. "Mickey" Cochran (1924–1998) - An athlete, a soldier, an engineer, and a teacher all rolled into one, Mickey's talents added up to genius on the ski slopes. He was a standout athlete in baseball and football at Chelmsford High School in Massachusetts. He pitched and played quarterback for the University of Vermont until his engineering studies were interrupted by the war.

He served in the 84th Infantry Division in France and Germany in World War II. His unit was surrounded in the Battle of the Bulge. He saw significant action, including crossing the Rhine on a floating foot bridge under fire. His squad saw 300% casualties between October 1944 and the end of the war in Europe. His athletic skills helped him to survive with minor wounds.

While in the army he pitched batting practice in Europe for Ted Williams. He also played semi-pro baseball in the US and the provincial leagues in Canada. He returned to the University of Vermont after the war and earned a BS in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in education. He loved skiing and applied engineering to developing his own highly successful technique, independently of what was popular.

Under his tutelage - and while training on the backyard ski hill that he built himself - all four of his children became members of the U.S. Ski Team. Among his other accomplishments, Mickey was the Alpine Director of the U.S. Team during the 1973-74 ski season and coach of the University of Vermont (UVM) Ski Team throughout the 1970s. With Mickey as alpine coach the UVM Ski Team won their first major winter carnivals, including Dartmouth in 1973, Middlebury and Williams, and began the longest regular season undefeated streak in NCAA history. Mickey died in March 1998 of congestive heart failure at the age of 74. The athletes he coached at UVM noted that he was all the man there is, and one of the greatest ski coaches ever. He was inducted into the UVM Athletic Hall of Fame in 1972.