Information submitted in a nomination letter to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame by Frank Elkins.

A formidable four-way skier, Howard A. Chivers was one of the truly great skiers on Dartmouth College’s “Big Green” ski team.

Howard Chivers was the second oldest member of Hanover’s famous Royal Family of Skiing a generation ago. His life was dedicated to the ski sport from childhood; a formidable high and prep school, then intercollegiate champion who was to go on to national recognition and then wind up as coach, leader and manager of his Alma Mater – Dartmouth Skiway in Lyme, New Hampshire. He gave notice of his prowess as a skier while starring for Hanover High (New Hampshire) from 1930 tp 1934, then topped the prep school field while at Deerfield Academy (Massachusetts) in 1935, sweeping downhill chase from the lip of the famous Tuckerman Ravine down to the Appalachian Mt. Club camp of renowned Joe Dodge at Pinkham Notch…a straight down descent from near the summit of Mount Washington to the base.

Now for his imposing record in three years of competition as a “Big Green” star, as Dartmouth Captain with Dick Durrance in 1938-39 season; intercollegiate cross-country kingpin and second in the second to his brother, Warren, in the combined (what competition between the two – never knowing which one would be superior) Canadian Dominion cross-country champion at Banff, tops in the langlauf and combined in Dartmouth’s famous Carnival, second in the USEASA slalom and a member of the USA team to Chili for the Pan American championships in 1937.

In 1938 he led the field in the first heralded national college championship between Dartmouth and the University of Washington at Sun Valley; best in cross-country and the combined at Dartmouth Carnival, combined champion and runner-up in the Intercollegiate Ski Union title meet, Eastern Class B jump ruler, tops in the Olympic combined tryouts at Berlin, New Hampshire and first in cross-country, second in the jump, fourth in slalom and first in the Nordic combined at Lac Beauport, P.Q.

The following year, 1939, he again topped the Dartmouth Carnival cross-country and combined field, placed runner-up in the cross-country and combined at the F.I.S. meet at Lake Placid, captured the intercollegiate crown in cross-country, the USEASA title games and set a winning pace at the Cannon Mountain cross-country event. He was a member of Uncle Sam’s Olympic team in his forte, cross-country and combined on 1940 at which time he coached the ski team and organized the first Outing Club at New Hampton School (New Hampshire) and was fourth in the Class “A” big jump at Rumford, Maine, one of his few competitive appearances that year.

Howard’s competitive career peaked in 1942 when he won the National Nordic Combined Championship at Brattleboro, Vermont as well as the Eastern Divisional Title. He was numbered among the few Americans and Canadians to capture ski titles on both sides of the border, having parlayed a Canadian cross-country championship in 1939 at Banff, Alberta into a top honor of the National Ski Association of America.

Howard switched to Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine as a teacher-coach and his acumen as a coach came to a fore quickly as his charges won the Maine State and New England interscholastic crowns. His Gould teams later were to be tops in the Eastern schoolboy circles, his students being especially outstanding in the classic events. Following three years in the Navy he served as teacher and coach for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (1947). He then married, returned to his home in Hanover, New Hampshire to manage the famous Hanover Inn Ski School and headed the Ford Sayre Memorial Junior Ski Council (one of the largest junior programs in the world with more than 800 yungsters in five towns.

In 1956 he began managing the Dartmouth Skiway planning the trail layout, life line installation and designing its expansion in trail and lift facilities as the years went by. His style remained impeccable in cross-country: graceful, lithe-limbed and ever so stylish. A rare gem at all times – personable Howard Chivers.

Howard A. Chivers was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1973.