Katy Rodolph
![]() Rodolph in 1952 | |
Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Catherine Louise Rodolph |
Born | Denver, Colorado, U.S.[1] | November 1, 1930
Died | September 17, 1994 Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. | (aged 63)
Occupation | Alpine skier |
Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
Skiing career | |
Disciplines | Downhill, giant slalom, slalom, combined |
Retired | January 1956 (age 25) |
Olympics | |
Teams | 2 – (1952, 1956 (injured)) |
Medals | 0 |
World Championships | |
Teams | 4 – (1950, 1952, 1954, 1956) includes Olympics |
Medals | 0 |
Catherine Louise "Katy" Rodolph (November 1, 1930 – September 17, 1994) was an alpine ski racer from the United States. She was a member of four world championship and Olympic teams in the 1950s.[2]
At age 19, Rodolph was the top North American in two of the three races at the 1950 World Championships in Aspen, with a fifth in the downhill[3] and eighth in the giant slalom.[4] She also finished fifth in the giant slalom at the 1952 Olympics in Oslo, Norway,[5] and fifth in the combined at the 1954 World Championships in Åre, Sweden. Named to the 1956 Olympic team,[6][7] she incurred neck and knee fractures in downhill training at Kitzbühel on January 14, less than two weeks before the games began at Cortina d'Ampezzo.[8][9]
Born in Denver, Colorado, Rodolph grew up in Hayden and learned to ski and race at nearby Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs.[10] She won nine national titles[11] and was later a race official. While on the U.S. Ski Team in the early 1950s, she resided in Sun Valley, Idaho, and worked as a waitress.[12]
Rodolph was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine in January 1952,[10][13] and was inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame in 1966.
Personal
[edit]While still in plaster from her Kitzbühel injuries, Rodolph married William Wyatt, an officer in the U.S. Air Force, in a civil ceremony in Las Vegas in February 1956.[14][15] It was her second marriage; her first (1951–53) was to Paul Wegeman, an Olympic Nordic ski jumper and racer from Steamboat Springs.[16][17][18][19]
That marriage was kept secret for nearly a year, until the 1952 Winter Olympics in February, when rumors of a romance between Rodolph and new gold medalist Stein Eriksen made the wire services.[20][21][22][23] After a crash on his third jump in the Nordic combined, Wegeman suffered a mild concussion and was hospitalized.[24]
In Oslo, the couple came forward to announce their marriage twelve months earlier in Raton, New Mexico and dispel the rumors,[23] but with consequences. At the Olympics, Wegeman was on temporary leave from training as a naval aviation cadet, and U.S. Navy regulations required candidates to be unmarried.[17][25] Wegeman was removed from the program and then served enlisted duty in Guam.[26] Rodolph moved to Reno and worked as a waitress,[27] and gained a divorce in January 1953.[18][28]
The Wyatts settled in Las Vegas and raised three children.[2] Rodolph-Wyatt died of complications of a rare blood disease at age 63 in 1994.[29]
World championship results
[edit]Year | Age | Slalom | Giant Slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1950 | 19 | 10 | 8 | not run | 5 | not awarded | |
1952 | 21 | 21 | 5 | 23 | |||
1954 | 23 | 10 | 11 | T-10 | 5 | ||
1956 | 25 | injured, did not compete |
From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.
Olympic results ![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Olympic_rings_without_rims.svg/50px-Olympic_rings_without_rims.svg.png)
[edit]Year | Age | Slalom | Giant Slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1952 | 21 | 21 | 5 | not run | 23 | not run | |
1956 | 25 | injured, did not compete |
References
[edit]- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Katy Rodolph". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020.
- ^ a b Howe, Nicholas (Winter 1995). "Goodbye Katy, and thank you..." Skiing Heritage Journal: 42.
- ^ "Young mother wins ski title". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. February 18, 1950. p. 3-part 2.
- ^ Claasen, Harold (February 14, 1950). "21-year-old Austrian co-ed wins giant slalom race at Aspen". Associated Press. p. 12.
- ^ "Mrs Lawrence Olympic winner". Eugene Register. Associated Press. February 14, 1952. p. 14.
- ^ "Mrs Lawrence, Brooks Dodge head US Olympic ski team". Nashua (NH) Telegram. March 21, 1955. p. 11.
- ^ "A Roundup Of The Week's News: Skiing". Sports Illustrated. March 28, 1955. p. 67. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013.
- ^ "Girl's neck broken in ski race". Pittsburgh Press. United Press. January 15, 1956. p. 1-sec 3.
- ^ "Scoreboard:...these faces in the crowd". Sports Illustrated: 4. January 23, 1956. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013.
- ^ a b "Winter Olympic tradition earns Steamboat Ski Town U.S.A. moniker" (PDF). Steamboat. 2013. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
- ^ "Reddish, Rodolph win national ski titles". Deseret News. United Press. March 16, 1953. p. 4B.
- ^ "She floats through the air..." Spokesman-Review. photo. December 30, 1951. p. 4.
- ^ "Newsweek cover". Rare Nonfiction. January 28, 1952. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
- ^ "Katy Rodolph marries airman". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. February 23, 1956. p. 19.
- ^ "Wedding bells for Katy". Milwaukee Sentinel. AP photo. February 24, 1956. p. 4-part 2.
- ^ Ross, Tom (August 20, 2013). "Olympian Paul Wegeman recalls moments when course of Steamboat ski history shifted forever". Steamboat Today. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
- ^ a b "Married cadet awaits orders". Spokesman-Review. February 26, 1952. p. 13.
- ^ a b "Yankee skiing stars' marriage goes on rocks". Ellensburg Daily Record. Associated Press. December 31, 1952. p. 6.
- ^ "Romance of Olympic skiers is ended as Katy Rodolph seeks divorce". Montreal Gazette. Associated Press. January 1, 1953. p. 14.
- ^ "Norwegian wins in Olympic skiing". Toledo Blade. United Press. February 15, 1952. p. 32.
- ^ "Norway skier posts victory in slalom run". Eugene Register Guard. Associated Press. February 15, 1952. p. 6.
- ^ "Olympic fans agog over romance of ski competitors". Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press. February 18, 1952. p. 5-part 2.
- ^ a b "Deflation of rumors". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. Associated Press. February 25, 1952. p. 7.
- ^ "Austria and Norway sweep games; Yanks blanked". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. February 18, 1952. p. 8.
- ^ "Navy cadet who wed ski star faces demotion". Rome (GA) New-Tribune. INS. February 26, 1952. p. 2.
- ^ "U.S. skier's divorce almost sure". Ottawa Citizen. Associated Press. January 1, 1953. p. 14.
- ^ "Photo: Katy Rodolph". Free-Lance Star. Fredericksburg, VA. Associated Press. November 22, 1952. p. 3.
- ^ "Olympic ski queen divorced". Ottawa Citizen. Associated Press. January 7, 1953. p. 21.
- ^ "Passages". Seattle Times. September 25, 1994. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
External links
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Katy Rodolph at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation
- Catherine Louise Rodolph at Olympics.com
- Katy Rodolph Wyatt – U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame – 1966
- Katy Rodolph Wyatt – Colorado Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame – 1985
- Katy Rodolph Wyatt – Yampa Valley
- 1952 U.S. Olympic team photo – Women's alpine skiing
- Catherine Louise "Katy" Rodolph Wyatt at Find a Grave