Richard S. "Dick" Osgood

Dick Osgood excelled first as a competitor and later as a coach, skiing on winning teams and coaching winning teams. Over a forty year span Osgood was a member of or coached 19 state championship ski teams.

At Edward Little High School he skied for Hall of Famer Zeke Dwelley for four years. His final three years the Eddies were state champions with Osgood winning the individual state championship in cross country in 1951. In 1950 and 1951 he won the New England Cross country title and in 1952 the Eastern Schoolboy crown. He served as team captain along with Norm Cummings and Dick Field.

The next stop was the University of New Hampshire on a skiing scholarship where he won the Eastern Collegiate Cross Country Championship in 1956 and missed by a single spot a place on the 1956 Olympic XC team.

Following his successful college career, Osgood returned to his roots as an assistant ski coach, taking over as head coach in 1962. His boys teams won 11 state ski championships including a run of seven straight from 1965-1971, along with three New England titles. From 1975 to 1987 he coached both men and women's ski teams earning five women's state championships during that pan. The record show that when his teams didn't win they were close, with one state runner up and four at the New England level.

He also found time to coach the Junior National Cross country team under the United States Eastern American Ski Association for three years and served as USEASA Jr, Nordic Director 1963-1967.

He taught skiing at Lost Valley for 20 years, serving as an associate director for four years.

The mark of any top high school or junior coach is how well his competitors do after moving up to higher levels and some of Osgood's charges have achieved greatly in the sport. He coached John Bower, Tom Upham, Karl Anderson, Bob and Bill Kendall, Randy Kerr, and Peter Davis. In addition to top competitors a number of Osgood's skiers also became s u c c e s s f u l coaches and instructors.

Although named Head Coach at EL in 1961 his first full year of coaching was 62-63 as he was called back into military service during the Berlin crisis in 1961.

For more than forty years Dick Osgood has been training skiers, future coaches and instructors, working with countless numbers of skiers at every level through high school and Lost Valley. Many of his skiers can still be found teaching at Lost Valley and coaching at various levels. Through these proteges his influence continues to spread, making his contributions even greater.

For his achievements and contribution to skiing in Lewiston Auburn and throughout Maine and New England, Dick Osgood has earned entry into the Maine Ski Hall of Fame.