Hal O’Leary
1993
Recreation/Development | 1997
Hal O’Leary was born in 1927 in Montreal Canada, earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Montreal and emigrated to the United States in 1949. After brief stints living in New York City and Denver, Hal arrived in Winter Park, CO and began a career as a ski instructor.
In 1970, Hal was the only instructor who volunteered to teach 23 youngsters with amputations from the Children’s Hospital in Denver. To prepare for this new adventure, Hal spent the entire week before the lessons skiing on one leg, experiencing the challenges that the children would face during their lessons. The lessons were a great success of from this experience a career providing equal opportunities accessing winter sports spanning almost 50 years was launched.
Hal went on to develop new skiing techniques and equipment designed for the adapted skiers. He founded the National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) headquartered at Winter Park. Hal also went on to coach the Team USA Disabled Ski Team. He wrote several books about teaching and enjoying adaptive skiing and traveled the world lecturing to ski instructors, families and skiers.
In 1992, SKI Magazine named Hal O’Leary “One of The 100 Best Things to Ever Happen to Skiing”!
