STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Normally, those participating in the annual Janss Pro-Am just need to know how to ski down a race course and live it up during one party after another.
This year’s participants were called on to do something more as they showed their support for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s record 695 athletes.
They had to know how to sing, as well.
This year’s annual three-day fundraising event was dubbed “Jukebox Heroes.” And those taking part in the 21st annual Janss Pro-Am Classic had to get up in their prison stripes and goat leggings, singing favorites ranging from Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rocks” to “Sound of Music’s” “The Lonely Goatherd” as they rocked and rolled all weekend long.
“It’s such a great, great, unbelievable cause,” said Ski Tek’s Brent Hansen, as he donned his goat horns to take the stage.
Twenty teams—120 participants—took part in this year’s Janss Pro-Am held on Lower Warm Springs over the weekend.
Jesse Keefe, who served as a junior pro on the Kiss Rock and Roll team, is one of the youngsters that benefits from the weekend.
Born without an ankle bone, he had his foot amputated when he was 11 months. But he didn’t let that stop him as he followed his grandfather’s and parents’ passion for skiing.
Outfitted with a prosthetic, he was on skis by 2. He has reveled in competing on the with regular ski team with SVSEF. And now he’s meeting with the National Ability Center in Park City for consideration as an athlete-in-training for the U.S. Paralympic team.
"It's amazing for him to have the opportunity to train locally and have the world open up to him," said his mother Krista Gerkhe.
Keefe, who has served as an ambassador for Shriners Hospital in Salt Lake City, has embraced playing sled hockey with Higher Ground and mountain biking. And he loves to switch his prosthetic foot backwardw as a practical joke, inducing people to demand that he go to the hospital immediately.
“I love training and racing with the Ski Education Foundation,” said Keefe, who enjoys studying history, particularly the American Revolution, at Wood River Middle School where he is a student. “When I get in the starting gate, I don’t think I’m going to lose and that helps keep me from getting nervous.”
Keefe’s teammate Matt Perkins, who competed in the Paralympics in Nagano, Japan, said Keefe will face some stiff competition but it will be well worth it.
“Skiing in the Paralympics is a unique experience. Since it happens only once every four years, everything’s heightened with higher highs and lower downs. But the team you go with becomes your group and family. And the work you put into that experience can be applied to everything else. Everything else in life is pretty easy once you’ve worked so hard for that,” he said.
Jody Zarkos, SVSEF’s Community Relations director, isn’t surprised.
“We believe in the power of winter sports to transform lives,” she told those taking part in the Janss Pro-Am last weekend.
In addition to providing support for the youngsters of the community, the Janss Pro-Am reunites pro skiers who may have spent years racing together on the U.S. Ski Team.
Case in point: Jonna Mendes, an Olympic downhill racer who now serves as director of development for the Sun Valley Ski Academy. She got to pair up with former teammate Carrie Sheinberg, a former Olympic slalom specialist and now a reporter for Sirius Satellite Radio splitting her time between New York and Park City, during the Janns race.
“The people with whom I skied are still my very best friends—Tommy Moe, Megan Gerrity...” she said. “We can go years without seeing each other and, when we do, it’s like we haven’t been apart at all. Now we all have kids so we’re entering a new phase of our relationship with one another.”
THE AWARDS:
Lee Gilman Most Inspirational Award:
- Charlotte Gourlay and Liz Brown of Rhinestone Cowboy
- Leroy Kingland
Best Crash sponsored by Zenergy (the prize, being massages):
Best Role Player or Living Dramatically, winning a one-night stay for two at the Knob Hill Inn:
- Sarah Schwing of Baby Got Back
- Sam Herrick of Walk This Way
Fastest recreational racers, winning dinner for two at the Knob Hill Grill:
- Charlotte Gourlay at 16.53, and KJ Savaria 15.76
The Speed Cup, given to Fastest Team:
- Third place: Baby Got Back with Ashley Brown, Sarah Schwing, Kat Bridwell, Katie Minor, Erin Hill and Pro Maggie Buck
- Second place: Dancing Queen with Sofia DeWolfe, Jim DeWolfe, Kristian DeWolfe, Lukas DeWolfe and Willy DeWolfe with Pro Harlan Collins
- First place: Texas Tornadoes with Carl Rixon, Hunter Storey, KJ Savaria, Sean Higgins, Austin Savaria and Pro Biche Rudigoz
Best Costume:
- Third place: I Wanna Rock and Roll All Nite, earning SVBSEF buffs, featuring Jamey Stogsdill, David Poole, Keith Pendill, Sherene Ricci, Jesse Keefe and Pro Matt Perkins
- Second place: : Whip It, offering gift certificates to the Pioneer Saloon James fisher, Josiah Rosser, Kyle Coshow, Mike Gilman, Mike Pfau and Pro Wes Powell.
- First place: Baby Got Back, with gift certificates to Sushi on Second
The Final Four of the 2018 Janss Cup:
- Fourth place: The Lonely Goatherd, earning SVSEF buffs—Mark Masur, Brett Hansen, Jeff Bruner, Cam Faulds, Brad Mathews and Pro Dan Herby
- Third place: Baby Got Back, earning Cellar Chips
- Second place: Jean Genie, earning Hydroflask Mugs from the Elephant’s Perch—Catherine Connelly, Mary Lynn Pyle, Alexa Lammateo, Lynn Pyle, Isabella Hattrup and Pro Heather Daves
- First place: Talk Dirty To Me, earning goggles from Sturtevants—John Vanderkloot, George Vanderkloot, Jeff Barber, Chris Jafay, Robby Cullen and Pro Aaron Fabish