Lifetime & Pioneer Member Dick Mize

Olympic and World Masters athlete, coach, trail builder, and promoter of Nordic skiing are just a few of the many labels that describe Dick Mize and the contributions he has made to NSAA.

After competing on the 1960 U.S. Olympic Biathlon Team, he moved to Anchorage to begin a long career as a teacher, principal, and administrator for the Anchorage School District. He was instrumental in establishing a competitive ski program in the junior high and high schools and nurturing a partnership between the school district’s sports program and the NSC/NSAA which continues to this day. In addition to coaching high school in the 1960s, he held Nordic skiing clinics for P.E. teachers and helped schools acquire equipment.

Dick helped design and build the Russian Jack Springs trails, the Girdwood trail that was used for the 1969 Junior Nationals, the Hillside/ Service trails, Point Woronzof trails (which no longer exist), and many of the Kincaid Park trails. Dick, with the assistance of his wife Arlene, Jon and Pat Elliott, and friends, completed much of the early trail building at Kincaid with a chainsaw and small bulldozer. Elliot’s Climb, the Mize Loop, and Arlene’s Way were places named at Kincaid to honor their combined efforts. More recently, Dick was a board member with the Kincaid Project Group, a fundraising effort to build a biathlon range and a water system at Kincaid for soccer fields in summer and snowmaking in winter.

As a Masters Division skier, Dick has won many age group awards in both national and international competitions. Highly respected by all who have known and worked with him, Dick Mize has been able to get things done in a quiet and effective manner.