LES STREETER, MIDDLEBURY College class of 1955, was an Olympian in 1956 and was inducted into the Middlebury Hall of Fame this month.
Photo courtesy of Middlebury College Archives

Some time ago, at a Reunion event at Middlebury College, I saw an older fellow sitting by himself. His badge said he was in the class of 1957. I had a question I wanted to pose to him. I introduced myself and asked, “Who was the most prominent athlete on campus when you were here.”

This was a concern of mine for reasons other than mere curiosity. Middlebury had just established an Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014 and I found myself quite happily on the selection committee formed to identify worthy honorees. 

I worried from the outset that we might neglect those athletes from a time when there were few or no people around to bear witness to their greatness.

“That’s easy,” this fellow told me, “Les Streeter.”

Les Streeter: I had never heard the name. I thought over time I had a developed a pretty keen sense of Middlebury sports history and had met or certainly heard of the legendary sports figures.  

I went to the college archives and researched Les Streeter and discovered a most remarkable man.

No doubt the reason Les Streeter was not someone more readily identified in Middlebury sports lore was because he died at 52 in 1986 in a plane crash in Wyoming. This tragic accident took the lives of six other people, including his son Gerald (“Jake”), with whom he had recently formed a real estate partnership. 

In death, he was remembered by Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm and former President Gerald Ford. “He was one of those people who made friends by being a friend,” said Lamm, and Ford commended him for his “community involvement” and devotion to “charitable causes.”

As a young man, Streeter was a skier of extraordinary accomplishment, selected for the 1956 United States Olympic team to compete in the Alpine events. At Middlebury, he also competed in Nordic events: cross country skiing and jumping. The best four-event skier in the Winter Carnivals and other big competitions was designated the “Skimeister.”

In his senior year, 1955, Les was Skimeister at the Eastern Championships (held at the Snow Bowl), winning the Alpine combined and coming in 7th in the x-country. At the NCAAs the next week, he was again Skimeister: finishing 3rd in the slalom, 5th in the downhill and 7th in the jump. 

MIDDLEBURY SKIMEISTER LES Streeter competes for the Panthers in 1954. He was the best all-around skier eight times at Middlebury.
Photo credit: Middlebury Campus

He was described in a leading newspaper as “the best all-round collegiate skier in America.” In his four years at Middlebury, he missed winning the Skimeister award only once (and he won it eight times!). He was the ski team captain both his junior and senior years. 

At the ’56 Olympics in Cortina, Italy, he was injured in a training run, fracturing his shoulder and unable to compete in the Games. Upon graduation, after a stint in the military, Les founded a chain of ski shops in the eastern United States and Canada. He continued to ski for the rest of his life, competing in Legends ski events and NASTAR races. 

Les Streeter was extraordinary in other aspects of college life too: he was a chemistry major, a member of the Blue Key Men’s Honor society, the Judicial Board, and the Dissipated Eight (the a cappella men’s octet, still performing today). He was elected the 1955 Winter Carnival King, when that kind of thing was big deal indeed, attesting to his popularity and the respect with which he was held: he was more than a “prominent athlete.”

Streeter was one of eight new honorees inducted into this year’s Middlebury Athletics Hall of Fame class. At the induction ceremony earlier this month, he was represented by two of his sons, Les Jr. and George. 

George is the youngest of Les’s five children. He gave a brief but moving speech in accepting the honor on behalf of his dad. He was only two when his dad died, but he explained that he’s had the “privilege of learning about him from family and friends and the hundreds of news clippings I’ve gathered over the years.

“(My dad) had a natural warmth and charisma that drew people to him, making friends wherever he went. His genuine kindness and open-hearted nature left a lasting impression, not just as an athlete, but as a friend.

“He was a true ambassador for the sport and the ski industry we know today. He dedicated his life to sharing his joy of the outdoors, inspiring countless others to embrace the mountains and the lifestyle that comes with it.”

THE LATE LES Streeter was represented at the 2024 Middlebury College Hall of Fame Ceremony on Nov. 2 by his sons Les (left) and George.
Photo credit: Todd Balfour

Serendipity

In the week before I was to present Les Streeter at the Hall of Fame ceremony, I spent 90 minutes speaking by phone with Bob Gallagher, Les Streeter’s childhood friend in Northfield, Vt., and his roommate during his junior and senior years at Middlebury. 

Bob is 91. He regaled me with tales. He said they were “best friends from grade school through college.”

LES STREETER, CIRCA 1975, hoots it up in his hometown of Vail, Colo., where he owned the ski shop “Head First.” Streeter died in a plane crash in 1986.
Photo courtesy of the Streeter family

There was a third member of their Northfield gang, Tom Lamson, also Middlebury ’55. They all lived nearby the Norwich University ski area, which had a ski tow and a 35-meter jump: “Anyone could use it. There were no lawyers then. Les’s dad drove us all over to the various ski areas. His mother was like my second mom.”

Les and Tom Lamson went off to Gould Academy in Maine to ski. Like Les, Tom was an outstanding skier, both at Gould and then on the team at Middlebury. Les is in the Hall of Fame at Gould. 

Of his best friend, Bob Gallagher said: “Les was a really good student, very disciplined, with a good sense of humor. He was easy to like, just a great guy. We did a few crazy things, now and then.

“He had a wonderful voice and he loved to sing. He was a great fan of the tenor Mario Lanza. He got up every morning at 5:00 and took a shower (in the bathroom in the middle of the hall) and sang at the top of his voice. He woke everyone up on the second floor of Gifford!” 

Les Streeter: Middlebury Athletics Hall of Fame, Class of 2024. 

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Karl Lindholm can be contacted at [email protected].