Bill "Willi" Reynolds

Won the first race on the Funnel, then cleared it as club president, 1951

Legend of Showdown

Born: 1924 or 1925, Great Falls
First skied at Showdown: 1947, entered in the club's downhill at Kings Hill
First worked here: October 1949, on the club's work parties putting in the Porphyry lift
Years at Showdown
Positions: Ski club work parties for the new Porphyry lift, October–November 1949
Vice-president, Great Falls Ski Club, 1950-51
Great Falls Ski Patrol by April 1950, and the National Ski Patrol by November 1950
Course-setting crew, club championship, 1951
President, Great Falls Ski Club, 1951-52
Starter, Great Falls High School ski races, 1952
Club ski instructor, winter 1953-54

What they did

31 entries

22 March 1946Sports chairman of the 18-30 Club, arranging its members' ride to the club tournament at Kings Hill
23 March 1947Entered in the men's downhill of the Great Falls Ski Club's city tournament
14 March 1948Entered in the Great Falls Ski Club's races at Kings Hill
27 March 1949Won the city men's downhill in 1:52.07, the surprise of the races, with Wally Buckley second and Dan Moran third; pictured with the winners in the Tribune, third from left
October 1949On a club working party clearing logs and debris at Kings Hill for the new lift to the top of Porphyry Peak, pictured with Tom Cunningham, Art Trenkle and Bob Baker
November 1949At the top of Porphyry Peak with Bob Sauloman, anchoring the new lift's return sheave, the last step of the work the club had been at since summer; the lift was tested on Sunday 20 November
12 March 1950Third in the club downhill as defending champion, in 2:01.3
March 1950Elected vice-president of the Great Falls Ski Club, with Jack Throckmorton as president
April 1950Took on the toboggan repairs in the Great Falls Ski Patrol's work plan
September 1950With Jerry Rawles, securing the tow cable at the top of Porphyry Peak
November 1950One of six members of the club's ski patrol who joined the air base's search for two airmen lost hunting in the Logging Creek country; a member of the National Ski Patrol
March 1951On the crew that set the courses for the club championship
18 March 1951Won the senior men's downhill in 1:43.5, the first race ever run on the new Funnel, at speeds course officials put at 60 miles an hour
18 March 1951Won the men's senior combined, downhill and slalom, in 3:28.9, ahead of Dearl Buckley and Charles Rowe; the Tribune ran his portrait in race bib 42 as Combined Champ
April 1951Elected president of the Great Falls Ski Club, with Jerry Rawles as vice-president
1951-52President of the Great Falls Ski Club; the season's membership cards are signed Wm. Reynolds, President
31 August 1951As president, called the members out for Sunday working parties: clear the timber cut the year before on the new run, hang new rope wheels on the upper lift, cut firewood for the lodge and, if enough came, build a children's tow, with a dollar of credit for every Sunday worked
21 September 1951The Tribune ran his photograph, axe in hand, under the heading President at Work
October 1951Appointed the club's committee chairmen for the season; his wife, Lois, ran the membership drive with Dolly Rawles
2 December 1951Photographed beside the lodge on the members' opening day, to show how deep the snow was
13 January 1952Starter at the Great Falls High School ski club races
30 March 1952Third in the club downhill, in 1:48, and third in the combined
6 April 1952Named with his officers on the Tribune's Kings Hill picture page, planning another tow and a better parking lot
April 1952Finished his year as president; Bill Casey was elected to follow him
March 1953Built a ski-bike with Jerry Rawles; the two were billed to demonstrate it at Old Fogey Day
15 March 1953Third in the club's first giant slalom on Throckmorton's Mile, and pictured in the Tribune
18 April 1953Sang in the Men's Ski Club Glee Club at the Skier's Spring Fling
Winter 1953-54Named one of the club's ski instructors, under Jack Throckmorton
January 1956Completed Dr. Lester Howard's advanced first-aid refresher course for the ski patrol
1956Bought a share in Ski Tow Incorporated, the club's stock drive for a lift
10 March 1957Named, with his wife Lois, among the members working the Ski Patrol's Ski Breakfast, a pancake breakfast to raise money for the patrol's blankets and gear