James Frederick "Jimmie" Heuga
Obituaries
Steamboat Today - February 14, 2010
Jimmie Heuga, of Edwards and Louisville, who with Billy Kidd was one of the first American men to stand on an Olympic podium holding an Alpine ski medal, died Feb. 8, 2010, in Boulder of complications from his four-decade-long battle with multiple sclerosis. He was 66.
Heuga’s Olympic medal in the slalom in Innsbruck, Austria was not, however, how he is best remembered. In later years, Heuga became better known for the radical approach he took to the treatment of his disease. Diagnosed with MS at age 26, he turned upside down the conventional medical approach to the disease by undertaking an aggressive program of exercise and optimistic thinking. With the founding of The Heuga Center for MS in Edwards, he became a passionate advocate for other MS patients and for new treatment therapies that are now the medical standard for MS care.
Born in Lake Tahoe, Calif., to Lucille and Pascal Heuga, a Basque immigrant who ran the cable car at Squaw Valley, Jimmie began skiing at 2, and three years later, he was competing on the junior circuit. In 1958, at 15, he was named to the U.S. Ski Team, coached by Bob Beattie. He remains the youngest man ever on its roster. In addition to his bronze Olympic medal, his skiing awards include 1963 NCAA champion in slalom, a sixth place in the slalom and fourth place in the combined at the 1966 World Championships at Portillo, Chile. He was the first American to win the prestigious Arlberg-Kandahar race in Garmisch, Germany.
Although he was celebrated for his skiing talent, Jimmie’s career was abbreviated by MS. During the 1968 Olympics, he experienced early symptoms of the disease, but he was not diagnosed until 1970. Doctors advised him to stop exercising and to avoid any activity that might put stress on his weakened body.
As instructed, Jimmie was inactive for several years. Then, realizing just how ill-suited he was to a sedentary life, Heuga tapped the goal-setting skills he learned from coach Beattie and built a fitness and wellness program based on exercise and positive thinking. Unsteady on his feet, Heuga at first concentrated on cycling, often telling friends that he fell off the seat more than he stayed on it. With regular and intensive workouts, his health and disposition improved markedly. At the same time, the progress of the disease slowed significantly, suggesting that exercise, though no cure, had deterred the debilitating effects of MS.
Founding the Heuga Center in 1984, Heuga blazed a trail for others to follow. He encouraged those with MS to, “do the best they can with what they have.” Today his groundbreaking approach to living with MS is widely accepted by neurologists who treat the disease. “I’m the least qualified person to found a medical center,” he said, “but I do know how to live. You can’t just wait for the lights to be shut off.”
He inherited a love of learning and books from his mother, Lucille. Heuga’s brother, Bobby, a retired college professor in Martinez, Calif., also has MS. Pascal Heuga, now age 100, was considered an outstanding powder skier even in his 80s. Jimmie Heuga graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in political science. He worked in the ski business for several years and owned a ski shop in Lake Tahoe. He was married to Debbie Dana, of Edwards. He and Debbie have three sons, Wilder, 20; Blaze, 18; and Winston, 15. He was also father to Kelly Hamill, of Seattle.
Heuga has been honored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and is a recipient of the Texaco Star Award. He has been on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame. He was on a 1968 cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine, pictured with his best friend and teammate, Billy Kidd. The two were the first American men to win Olympic medals in Alpine skiing. In a 1996 “Where are they now?” update in Sports Illustrated, Kidd said, “Jimmie is an inspiration to everyone. He doesn’t think about MS as a disability but as a challenge. Jimmie says, ‘Don’t feel sorry for me, I just have MS. Some people have real problems. For example, you might not get along with your mother-in-law, or maybe you can’t balance your checkbook.’”
One of Heuga’s major ski rivals was Jean-Claude Killy. When Killy spoke at a Heuga Center fundraising dinner in New York, he recalled how Heuga, who spoke French, taught the French Ski Team how to do the twist.
The story highlighted Heuga’s friendliness, dance skills and trend-setting style. Killy has referred to Heuga as “my champion.”
Heuga has lived in an assisted-care facility since 1999 and used a wheelchair. He remained active swimming, skiing/water skiing in a sit-ski, and cycling, often alongside friend Richard Rokos, coach of the University of Colorado Ski Team.
Jimmie often spoke to Heuga Center participants, and he worked to raise funds for the center’s programs. Heuga described exercise as an emotional anchor that keeps him grounded in the world. Exercise helped to maintain his sense of self, his sanity. And it kept his heart, muscles and lungs healthy — despite MS.
“I’ve always drawn a distinction,” he said, “between my condition and my health.”
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Jimmie Heuga Center Endowment Fund, 27 Main St. East, Suite 303, Edwards, CO 81632. A memorial service is at 1 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15, 2010, at Beaver Creek Chapel in Avon.
The United States Ski Team and the Heuga family welcome all who knew and loved Jimmie to come to the celebration of his life in late spring.
Vail Daily - February 8, 2010
EDWARDS – Jimmie Heuga, the American skier who won a bronze medal in the 1964 Olympics and later used his battle with multiple sclerosis to help other people diagnosed with that disease, died Monday.He was 66.In 1984, Heuga founded the Vail Valley-based Jimmie Heuga Center, which sought to encourage people with multiple sclerosis to adopt healthy lifestyles and positive attitudes. The group is now called Can Do Multiple Sclerosis.”Obviously, the world knew him for his accomplishments as a ski racer, but I admire him even more because of how he led his life, especially with the challenges of MS,” said Billy Kidd, of Steamboat Springs, who stood on the podium alongside Heuga in the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. Kidd won silver, and Heuga won bronze.Friends used one common word to describe Heuga: “tough.””He’s probably the toughest guy, both on and off skis, both mentally and physically, that I’ve ever known,” said Bob Beattie, of Aspen, a longtime friend who coached Heuga on the U.S. Ski Team and at the University of Colorado.A precocious talent who rose quickly through the youth racing ranks, Heuga was the first American man – along with Kidd – to win an Olympic medal in alpine skiing, a breakthrough for the American ski team. Almost no one thought they would pull off such a performance.”Our parents did,” Kidd said. “And Bob Beattie. Nobody else did.”Kidd and Heuga were pictured together on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1968.Debbie Heuga, of Edwards, who was married to Jimmie, remembered him, first and foremost, for his brilliant smile.”He was a man of vision, and he was such a thrill in the ski world, and he helped so many people in the medical community as well,” she said.Heuga loved nothing more than skiing, said his first wife, Sharon Lee Dwight, of Seattle.”He was like a little kid,” she said. “Even when we got older, when the snow would start to fall, it would bring over him this aura of magic, because he loved the time when the snow began to fall.”
James Frederick Heuga was born Sept. 22, 1943, in Lake Tahoe, Calif., to Lucille and Pascal Heuga, a Basque immigrant who was a lift operator at Squaw Valley.Jimmie began skiing at age 2, and, by age 5, he was racing competitively. He appeared in a Warren Miller film at age 9. At age 18, he was named to the U.S. Ski Team.He skied for Beattie both on the U.S. Ski Team and the University of Colorado, where he was the 1963 NCAA champion in slalom. Other accomplishments include a sixth place in slalom and a fourth-place in the combined at the 1966 World Championships at Portillo, Chile. He was the first American to win the Arlberg-Kandahar race in Garmisch, Germany. “As a skier, he was unbelieveable,” Beattie said. “He could run up a mountain faster than anyone you’ve ever seen, and, mentally, as far as getting down the mountain, he was something else. Spectacular under pressure.”Bill Marolt, now president and CEO of the U.S. Ski Team, skied with Heuga on the 1964 Olympic Team.”Jimmie Heuga was a champion in every sense of the word,” Marolt said in a statement released Monday. “He was a champion as an athlete, as a person and any way you want to measure him.””We always talk about toughness – you heard about it in the Super Bowl this weekend,” Marolt said. “When I look back at all the athletes I’ve known, pound for pound, Jimmie Heuga was the toughest I’ve ever met. He was a five-foot-six, 140-pound guy who didn’t back down from anybody. That’s the kind of toughness you need to be a champion.”
Heuga’s career was cut short by the effects of multiple sclerosis, a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system and is often debilitating. There is no known cure.Heuga began to feel symptoms in 1968, the same year he competed in the Olympics in Grenoble, France. The diagnosis was made in 1970, when he was still in his 20s.”The doctors said, ‘You have MS, and there’s no cure, and we don’t know what caused it, but the best thing to do is preserve your energy,” Kidd said. “You only have a certain amount of energy left, so don’t waste it on exercise.”Heuga tried that for a while, giving up skiing and exercising, but found he wasn’t happy. He started exercising – swimming, walking, biking – and found that he felt much better, both mentally and physically.Based on that philosophy of leading an active lifestyle, Heuga founded the Jimmie Heuga Center in 1984. He spent years sharing and teaching his philosophy.”Instead of crying and complaining and whimpering about it, he tried to do something about it,” Beattie said. “He tried to do something that made it better for others to the best of his ability.”
In 1999, Heuga began living at an assisted-care facility near Boulder. He was forced to use a wheelchair as the effects of multiple sclerosis worsened.His organization went through a couple of name changes. It was called the Heuga Center for Multiple Sclerosis, and then, last year, its name was changed to Can Do Multiple Sclerosis to better reflect its mission.Heuga said he wasn’t particularly pleased about the name change, but, by January of this year, he had taken the title of fundraising and public education director of the Jimmie Heuga Center Endowment of Can Do Multiple Sclerosis. In 2008, the Edwards-based organization’s programs served more than 10,000 people.”We are deeply saddened,” said Kim Sharkey, CEO of Can Do Multiple Sclerosis. “Our condolences go out to Jimmie’s family and friends. He will always be an inspiration to all.”Heuga was inducted into Vail’s Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 1987. He is an honored member of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, inducted in1976, and was named to the Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000. He has been honored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and was awarded the U.S. Ski Team’s Texaco Star Award. He has been on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, and was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame two years ago.He is survived by sons Wilder, Blaze and Winston, of Edwards and daugher Kelly Hamill of Seattle.In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Jimmie Heuga Endowment Fund, 27 Main Street East, Suite 303, Edwards, CO 81632. Staff Writer Edward Stoner can be reached at 970-748-2929 or estoner@vaildaily.com.
Vail Daily - February 15, 2010
Vail says good-bye to Jimmie Heuga
VAIL, Colorado –Vail Valley icon Jimmie Heuga doesn’t have multiple sclerosis anymore.
That’s what Heuga’s friends and family are grateful for since Heuga’s death last week – that he no longer has to suffer. Many would like to believe Heuga is skiing powder now through eternity in the best, untracked snow in the universe.
More than 250 people gathered at the Beaver Creek Chapel Monday to honor Heuga, who passed away in Boulder on Feb. 8. Heuga left a legacy in the Vail Valley, and throughout the world, for his innovative thinking about the disease he had since 1970. He founded the Heuga Center for Multiple Sclerosis in 1984 to challenge medical opinions at the time on how to treat the disease.
Billy Kidd, who stood next to Heuga on the podium at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, remembers his teammate as so much more than just a ski racer. The men were the first two Americans to win Olympic medals in alpine skiing, but Kidd said they “were teammates for life.”
“It would be easy to be sad on this day, but Jimmie wouldn’t want us to be sad,” Kidd said. “Jimmie doesn’t have MS anymore.”
Kidd said Heuga was his hero, even though they were the same age. He admired his skiing ability, graciousness, kindness and sensitivity. Kidd shared a special bond with him throughout the years and continued to admire everything he did for advancing the medical community’s way of thinking about multiple sclerosis. Heuga exercised when doctors told him he should rest, ultimately convincing the multiple sclerosis medical community that his way was, in fact, the right way.
Heuga died 46 years to the day after winning bronze alongside Kidd, who won silver. Kidd remembers that day so clearly, not only because of the medals they had just won, but because of Heuga’s response to the win.
Kidd said Heuga agonized over what to say to Buddy Werner – Heuga felt Werner should have won the race, Kidd said.
It was that humbleness, combined with other endearing characteristics, that people loved so much about Heuga, but nobody loved his qualities more than his three sons, Wilder, 20, Blaze, 18, and Winston, 15.
“My father taught me so much – he was my inspiration, my hero,” Winston Heuga said.
Winston was the first of his brothers to speak at the service Monday – after he said just a few words, there wasn’t a dry eye in the chapel. He cried throughout his speech, heartbroken over his father’s death.
Winston said his father was unbreakable, both mentally and physically. Jimmie Heuga may have suffered so many debilitating symptoms from his disease, yet Winston never saw his father give up.
“I never saw my father without a smile,” Winston said.
Blaze commented on his father’s strength, too, as well as his class. He said his father was an inspiration to anyone who knew him.
“When I think of my dad, I picture him as a fighter,” Blaze said. “I’m going to miss learning how to be a better person just by being with you.”
Wilder agreed that his father was a fighter, but said Jimmie Heuga wasn’t fighting every day.
“You were living every day,” Wilder said.
Bob Beattie, Jimmie Heuga’s ski coach at the University of Colorado and on the U.S. Ski Team, called Jimmie Heuga a “true American hero.”
While Jimmie Heuga left a skiing legacy behind, his true legacy is what he accomplished after he was a star athlete, Beattie said.
“We can marvel at what he did at the Olympics, but we can really, really marvel at what he did afterwards,” Beattie said.
Beattie also remembers Heuga’s strength, as well as his courage, laughter and wonderful sense of humor.
“I never heard him complain about one thing, and he suffered so much,” Beattie said. “This is the greatest guy that ever lived – I love Jimmie Heuga.”
