Jack Lufkin

Jack Lufkin was a late starter in skiing joining the ski team at Stephens High of Rumford in 1962 as a freshman, his first year of skiing. Fortunately he was in a hotbed of nordic skiing and with the coaching of Mack Miller, Chummy Broomhall and Herb Adams he progressed rapidly. Half way through high school he was consistently a top scorer on a ski team that was among the best in the state and New England competition. His team won both state and New England titles in 1965. Along with high sschool competition Jack also skied in numerous eastern junior races and in his senior year placed second in the Junior National 10 K in Bend, Oregon.

His success as a high school racer led to a scholarship at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. His outstanding college performance earned a spot on the US Ski Team in 1966. In 1967 he moved up to the “A” team and in 1968 he traveled ot France to race in 30 K in the Grenoble Olympics. That same winter in Reit in Winkle, Germany the Rumford native was a member of the first US relay team to score a win in cross country competition at the World Cup level.

Following graduation from college, Lufkin retired from racing and entered the ski industry with Califoria Outward Bound. In 1972 he joined fellow Rumford skier Avery Caldwell in developing the Jackson Ski Touring Foundation, succeeding Caldwell as Executive Director in 1973. He also served as Jackson’s ski school director and retail shop manager for the Jack Frost Shop until 1976. During that tenure, Jack joined other cross country skiers including Maine natives, Tommy Upham and Avery Caldwell in creating the Nordic Ski Instructors Association. Lufkin served as the head certification examiner of the fledgling organization for several years. From 1976 to 1978 he developed the Carrabassett Valley Recreation Center, now the Sugarloaf Ski Touring Center.

In 1978 Lufkin moved to the equipment side of the cross country industry as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Exel Marketing the largest XC distribution company in North America in the early nineties, a position he held until 1994. He served as chairman for the XC marketing committee for Ski Industries of America for many eyars and was active in organizing and promoting roller ski races and XC coaching clinics all over the US.

In a career in skiing that spanned over forty years, Jack Lufkin contributed at every level winning cross country races in high school and college, representing his country in the Olympics and through his coaching, organizational efforts, and cross country center building and managing. This work has also helped in creating new generations of skiers. These contributions earned Jack Lufkin a place in the Maine Ski Hall of Fame.