Ted Curtis

Ted Curtis started a four decade coaching career immediately after graduating from the University of Maine in 1923 . His first position was as teacher and coach at Lee Academy where he coached cross country, track, winter sports, baseball and tennis. He organized the first winter carnival at Lee, which became an annual event and evolved into the Maine State Skiing Championships. During his five years there his Lee winter sports teams won four state championships and his cross country teams won four state interscholastic titles, establishing his reputation as a winning coach in multiple sports.

The next stop for the Freeport native was Caribou High School in 1928 where he led his winter sports teams to a pair of state titles including major victories over Lee Academy.

In 1930 Ted became Faculty Manager of Athletics and the first ski coach at the University of Maine. In three decades his ski teams were perennial sate champions winning 23 state championships and rarely missing qualifying for the eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association’s Senior Division Championship each winter which was limited to the top ten college teams in the East.

One of his best ski teams was in 1961, a group that finished fourth in the East and sixth nationally. One key mark of a successful coach is the athletes he develops and Ted Curtis had a number who went on to achieve at higher levels. Andover’s Charlie Akers won the NCAA cross country championships in 1961 and earned spots on two Olympic teams and Rumford’s Bob Pidacks competed in the 1952 Olympics. Rod Elliott, captain of the 1936-1937 ski teams won the Montreal Open Ski Jumping title twice.

In addition to his coaching duties and other responsibilities as Manager of Athletics at the University Ted found the time to be active in the development of the Penobscot Valley Ski Club’s Bald Mountain Ski Area where one of the slopes was named “Curtis Bowl”. He made sure all of his ski team members were also members of PVSC and the United States Eastern Amateur Ski Association. The addition of the team members made it possible for PVSC to meet the USEASA membership requirements enabling the club to hold USEASA sanctioned races.

Curtis was also active in the Maine Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the New England Conference on Intercollegiate Athletics, the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association, the Yankee Conference, and the YMCA. He was a “friend” of Sugarloaf and carried his support for Maine winter recreation to the Maine State Legislature after his retirement from the University in 1961. His achievements have been recognized with numerous awards including the Maine Black Bear Award, the Bangor Daily News Sports Award, and in 1986 the Penobscot Valley Ski Club Award for his “Outstanding Contribution to Skiing”. His greatest legacy may be the large number of his athletes and students who went into coaching and teaching carrying his values of loyalty, honesty and sportsmanship to schools in Maine and throughout the nation. This lifetime of devotion to the sport has earned Ted Curtis a rightful place in the Maine Ski Hall of Fame.