Suzy “Chapstick†Chaffee is a ski-racing pioneer, a founder of women’s freestyle skiing, one of the first ski film stars, a television commercial star and the first female member of the US Olympic Committee’s Board of Directors. She was also instrumental in passing Title IX and the Amateur Sports Act and has been a member of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness under four US presidents. Suzy has used her boundless energy to help give female athletes many of the opportunities they have today.
HOW DID YOUR SKIING CAREER LEAD YOU INTO THE POLITICAL ARENA?
It was my brothers and then my whole experience at University of Denver that frustrated me into thinking, “This isn’t right! And I need to do something.†DU had promised me coaching to race for them. I got some dry land help, but when it came time to ride in the team car to go to the mountains to train, they said I couldn’t ride in the car because I didn’t have the NCAA insurance because I couldn’t pass the “male equipment†physical. You know what I mean by equipment? Biological equipment. So I was hitchhiking to practice with signs that said “Evergreen or Bust,†and the TV people saw me and interviewed me.
WHAT YEAR WAS THIS?
1964 or ‘65. I couldn’t even get a scholarship, even as one of the best ski racers in America back then. But I went on to the 1968 Olympics anyhow. And because of all the press I got there, Carol Oglesby of the PE Teachers of America asked me to help lead the Title IX March in Washington, and I said, “You betcha!†Even my mother, who was an alternate on the Olympic team way back when, joined me.
After the march, I called up the White House and got a meeting for me, Billie Jean King, and some of the PE Teachers of America with Vice President Walter Mondale. So things got put in motion then. From there, I got connected with Senator Ted Kennedy and went skiing with him. We hit it off, I talked to him about Title IX, and he took Title IX under his wing for his entire tenure in the Senate, even when the Supreme Court tried to knock it down three times. I think his sisters being such great athletes and his family’s involvement with the Special Olympics really helped him see things correctly.
WHEN DID YOU COMPETE IN SKI BALLET?
After the ’68 Olympics, in 1970. So around the same time. I was a ballerina as a child and always had these visions of dancing down the mountains. So I just started doing more spinning and grinning! I helped raise $1 million from Colgate toothpaste to start the women’s division of freestyle skiing in 1971. But I also took a lot of heat for some of the things I did back then, like using shorter skis with the tails slightly turned up, and wearing plastic boots. And of course, I started matching my outfits to the plastic boots and that was considered a little weird at first. But that’s okay; that’s fashion! It was fun, and through listening to my inner voices telling me to do some of those things that were considered weird, I’ve been given some great adventures. I’ve worked with seven different presidents of the US on several successful projects, just because I followed what I thought was right and didn’t give up. And sports get you prepared to take some heat later in life. Once you fall on your face on snow and get back up, it’s easier to do it in life.
DID YOU HAVE FEMALE ROLE MODELS THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO LOOK UP TOIN SKIING?
Andrea Mead, who recently passed on, is one of my heroes. She was a great leader in the environmental ski arena as well as a great ski champion. And she was my hometown hero. We’re both from Rutland, Vermont. But she changed a lot of the environmental laws in California when she moved to Mammoth.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR FEMALE ATHLETES BOTH IN THEIR CAREERSAND AFTER THEIR CAREERS?
Giving back is the key. And, maybe, the reason you’re calling me after all these years is because I keep doing things that are perhaps meaningful!
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