Book Synopsis
This is the story of Minnesota Nordic skiing from 1930s to 1980 and the state high school champions that became junior national, college, senior national champions and sometimes, Olympians and the coaches that helped them become great. It is the story of Norman Oakvik, a selfless Norwegian American who took time off each winter to help young skiers become champions. Norm Oakvik gave of himself for over 50 years, but he never took credit for these champions. He was the Inconspicuous Coach.
It is also the story of his fellow competitors and how they succeeded but also gave back to Nordic skiing. People like John Burton, Charlie Banks, Mike Marciniak, Norm Kragseth, Lars Kindem, and many others all gave of themselves. Some of them were high school coaches and some of them were just part of the small fraternity of Nordic skiers. Read about Minnesota state champions from every year of the wooden-ski era and learn about this small fraternity of competitors and their successes and failures.