Squaw is the place for 49er fans

BY DARRELL MOODY

Appeal Staff Writer

If you are a fan of the San Francisco 49ers or the Olympics, the place to be on Friday was The Resort at Squaw Creek.

On one side of the patio were current and former 49er stars Jesse Sapolu, Guy McIntyre, Randy Cross, Scott Gragg, Brandon Lloyd and Eric Wright. On the other side was Stacy Dragila, the first-ever women's Olympic pole vault champion. In the middle were former Winter Olympic stars including alpine skiers Phil and Steve Mahre, speedskater Bonnie Blair and her husband, speedskater Dave Cruikshank, and Tamara McKinney, the most-successful women's skier in U.S. history.

They were all in town for the fourth annual 49ers Foundation Celebrity Ski Classic, presented by Mercedes Benz. The event, the brainchild of Seth Gersch, has sold out the last two years.

"The last four years we've raised approximately $900,000 to help disadvantaged youths in the Bay Area," said Tom Bowen, director of the 49ers Foundation. 'If we do it right, we're hoping to raise around $200,000 (corporate sponsors, live auction, silent auction). We have a lot of great sponsors here.

"It's a way of getting under the velvet ropes. You get to spend three days with coaches, current players, former players and of course the Olympians. It's been very successful for corporations to participate in."

There are three levels of sponsorship, according to Bowen. A gold sponsorship is $50,000, which includes eight rooms for three nights and 16 guests. A silver sponsorship is $25,000, which includes four rooms for three nights and eight guests. A bronze membership costs $13,500, which includes two room for three nights and four guests.

Guests got the opportunity for a leisurely day of skiing with the Olympians on Friday plus dinner and a live auction, a race today (11 a.m.) with dinner, a live auction, a silent auction and a private concert by Kenny Loggins.

Bowen said the foundation has three other fund-raising events during the year - a wine tasting in April, a golf tournament in May at Castlewood Country Club in Pleasanton and Monday Night Billiards in San Jose, which turned out to be a popular event for the players.

Working for a good cause is nothing new to McKinney, a local hero, who grew up in Truckee and now lives at Squaw Valley with her 6-year-old daughter Francesca.

McKinney, who competed for 14 years on the U.S. ski team and made three Olympic appearances, started working in 1990 for the Jimmie Huega Center, which helps people with multiple sclerosis.

"I did a lot of promotional work until 1997, and then I did some pro racing," she said. "That's how I got introduced to the 49er Foundation and got involved with this event. It's a treat to come here and ski with great people. It's good to be a able to help a good cause. This says a lot about the team and organization to take the time and energy to do this."

McKinney, now 41, had her amateur career cut short when she shattered her tibia in a practice run in 1989.

"I remember thinking I was in a great deal of pain, and then it went away," she said, as she picked at her lunch on Friday. "I kept thinking it was taking a long time for the helicopter to come, and then I realized I was in the air.

"It was a pretty serious injury. It was a seven-hour surgery, I had a bone graft and cartilage repair. I was in the hospital for 3 1/2 weeks. I definitely felt I had something left. I had just turned 29 and by every standard it was old, but Vreni Schneider competed until she was 30 or 31. It's an individual thing."

McKinney won World Cup titles in the giant slalom in 1981 and 1983, and won the 1984 World Cup slalom title. She also won 10 U.S. titles, and won 18 World Cup races, the most for any American woman. She came back to compete on the pro circuit, competing from 1993 to 1997.

McKinney was an instructor for nationwide Rossignol's women's clinics from 1994-96, is a ski tester for Snow Country and SKI Magazine and she currently coaches youth ski teams at Squaw Valley.

"I love to ski," she said. "It's a big part of my life. I coach older kids (14 and up) during the week, and coach younger kids (7 and under) on the weekend. I like little kids; it's fun. With the older kids, some are really fun to work with and some are a little too cool to show up."

Do the kids realize McKinney's place in history?

"It depends on how into it they are," she said, meaning that if kids are really into the sport they might know some of the past skiers.

McKinney wasn't the only celebrity skier that works with young kids. Phil and Steve Mahre, medalists at the 1984 Olympics, run the Mahre Training Center in Keystone, Colo, teaching the sport to all levels of skiers.

Phil Mahre was a silver medalist in the slalom in the 1980 Olympics, and won a gold in the slalom at the 1984 Olympics. Steve Mahre won a silver medal in the slalom in 1984, and was a world champion in 1982.

Contact Darrell Moody at 881-1281.