Tim LaVallee

Tim LaVallee didn’t get to ski until he was in junior high, but he quickly made up for lost time. All it took was a single daytrip to Sugarloaf to hook him on the sport and at the age of 13 he worked all summer in his home town of Winthrop to earn enough money for a better pair of skis than his wood models from Paris Manufacturing. Armed with new skis he applied himself and made the Winthrop High ski team in his freshman year. Skiing on the team all four years he captained the team in his senior year. In those days, being on the team meant skiing four events, slalom, giant slalom, cross country and jumping. When he informed his coach Pete Edwards that he would not be jumping he learned that he would either do it all or take up basketball. He accepted that challenge and went onto become one of the state’s top jumpers.

After graduating from high school in 1963 LaVallee took his skiing skills to Plymouth State College where he was a contributing member of the ski team all four years, and elected captain in his junior and senior years. Following college he took his first teaching job in Swansea, Mass. And on a part time basis began his coaching career, commuting up to Tenney Mountain to coach a junior racing program.

Returning to Maine in 1968 he began a ten year tenure at Telstar High in Bethel where his teams won Western Maine titles in 1969, ‘70, ‘71, ‘72 and ‘73, and state titles in 1970, ‘71, ‘73 and ‘77, and the New England Championship in 1978. That success led to an invitation to rebuild the ski program at Oxford Hills, a challenge he accepted and met by coaching the Vikings to a state championship in 1979 and runner up in 1980.

Next came stint as ski coach at Gould Academy as Athletic Director and Head Ski Coach, where his success caught the attention of the US Ski Team. He served the team as Development Coach, Alpine Team Technical Director, and Executive Director of the US Ski Coaches Association. When his US Ski Team boss, Bill Marolt became AD at the University of Colorado he hired LaVallee as Head Ski Coach where his teams had a 113 -24 -1 record, producing some of the country’s top skiers. In 1990 he returned to Maine to take over as Head Ski Coach at Bates College.

In 1994 he was invited to join in a new concept, a partnership b e t w e e n Gould Academy and Sunday River to create a comprehensive ski program that would encompass all aspects of skiing, from competition to recreation. The GSR program has succeeded at all levels, winning New England Prep School Alpine Division I Championships in 1998, ‘99, ‘00, ‘01, ‘02 and ‘07, and sending skiers to the US team.

For more than forty years this Maine skier has been successful at every level, developing, skiers for competition, training coaches, serving in volunteer positions and coaching other sports. This devotion to the sport has earned Tim LaVallee a rightful place in the Maine Ski Hall of Fame.