Alf Halvorson was a well-known ski jumper and cross-country skier but was better known as a ski promoter and organizer. He organized dozens of major competitions in 1917, 1918, 1919 and the early 1920s. He was an early advocate for youth skiing programs.

Alf Halvorson was a native of Berlin Mills, New Hampshire and was a very active and well-known ski jumper and cross-country skier. His skiing interest brought him together with a group of ski enthusiasts who organized the United States Eastern Amateur Ski Association in 1922 and along with Henry Percy Douglas of Montreal, founded the Nansen Ski Club, Berlin, New Hampshire and the Berlin Mills Ski Club.

Alf Halvorson was the first president of his ski club at age 18 and he was very active in the promoting aspect of recreational and competitive skiing in the Northeast. Alf took a number of ski groups to the large ski centers such as Montreal, Lake Placid and Brattleboro. These tours brought out the necessity of a divisional association with tournament sanction dates. At a meeting with Mr. Gregory of Brattleboro, Harry Wade Hicks of Lake Placid, Fred Harris of Brattleboro and Doctor Fox of Saranac, New York, the United States Eastern Amateur Ski Association was born. After USSEASA formation, Alf continued to travel the Northeast to develop interest in club formation, fully realizing that a strong USSEASA depended on a large number of strong clubs within its ranks. His effort helped to form the Rumford Ski club, Portland (Maine) Ski Club, Bunny Northern Ski Club, Lewiston-Alburn Ski Club, Manchester Ski Club and Haverhill Ski Club – to name a few. Alf gave demonstrations of downhill, cross-country and jumping to whet the appetite of the members of the newly formed clubs and this directly led to the formation of a team at Conway, New Hampshire.

In 1927, Alf staged a 100 mile cross-country race to get the press of the northeast interested in skiing and writing about it. In 1931, Halvorson organized what was known as Snowfest which was held the Sunday prior to Easter at Glen House at Pinkham Notch.

Alf was more than a promoter though and nothing shows this more than the years 1925 and 1926 when he organized the first junior ski club in the Northeast. Its membership peaked at about 100 boys and girls. He fully realized that if skiing in the East was going to grow, youngsters were required to insure the success of the future. This club was the Nansen Junior Ski Club and, unlike most ski clubs, year around activities were planned so that interest wouldn’t wane with summer’s warmth. Alf and the ski clubs were instrumental in building a number of junior jumping hills in and around the Berlin area and the big jump at Berlin, New Hampshire.

Alf Halvorson was a veteran of the sport he so dearly loved and he was a person who devoted most of his life to the promotion of it in the New England area. He was an assistant coach for the 1932 U.S. Olympic Nordic Ski Team at Lake Placid, New York, a position he truly enjoyed for he was working to promote his sport as well as working with the youngsters he considered vital to the growth of skiing.

Alf Halvorson was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1968.