When people think of the varsity skiing era at Fort Lewis College, the first name that comes to mind is Adolph Kuss. Mr. Kuss, the first men's skiing coach in Fort Lewis College history, guided the Raiders from 1965 through 1976. Several of his skiers earned NCAA championships and All-America honors while turning the school into a national ski power.
His 1968 team turned in the college's top national finish, placing third in NCAA Division I.
During his years as the Raider ski coach, Mr. Kuss organized and conducted numerous NCAA events, including the 1975 NCAA Championships, which were held at Purgatory-Durango Ski Resort. As chairman and a member of the NCAA race committee, he developed and edited the first complete NCAA skiing rulebook.
In addition to his coaching duties, Mr. Kuss was instrumental in developing student outdoor education and recreation activities and served Fort Lewis College as a professor of exercise science and sport from 1964 through his retirement in 1987.
Mr. Kuss was active with the Rocky Mountain Division of the U.S. Ski Association as a junior alpine and Nordic coach from 1949 through 1964, building programs that produced outstanding skiers at the regional, national and international levels.
He was a Nordic ski coach for the U.S. Ski Team from 1963 through 1972, coaching the American cross-country skiers at the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and the American Nordic combined skiers at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. He was also the head coach for the World University Games in 1972.
Perhaps best known for his coaching, Mr. Kuss's contributions to the sport are much more varied.
As a competitor, his career spans parts of seven decades. He began competing as a five-year-ld in 1935. During his youth, he was an outstanding alpine competitor, participating in the first Junior National Alpine Championship at Bogus Basin, Idaho, in 1948. He was also a four-event competitor from 1949 through 1951 at Western State College, where he earned both a bachelor's and master's degree.
Mr. Kuss was a member of the national ski team from 1950 through 1960, competing in Olympic tryouts and other national alpine and Nordic championship events.
His resume includes developing and constructing alpine and Nordic facilities in Gunnison, Crested Butte, Durango, and Mancos. These ski lifts, jumping complexes and cross-country skiing areas are still in use for the benefit and enjoyment of all.
In 1967, the Rocky Mountain Division of the USSA honored Mr. Kuss with its highest award - - the Halsted Trophy. Two years later, he received the USSA's Russell Wilder Trophy for outstanding contributions to junior skiing.
In 1976, Kuss received the Fort Lewis College Achievement Award for dedication to the college and its students.
In 1990, Mr. Kuss became an honored member of the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame.
