Information was submitted by Gretchen Fraser.

George Bauer’s philosophy was to enhance the awareness and image of skiing. He’s felt strongly about making skiing mean more to the people who skied and had tremendous success in doing so.

The year 1967 marked the beginning of George Bauer’s involvement with skiing and the ski industry. In 1977, he became the publisher of SKI Magazine and fathered many innovative events.

George established the very successful SKI Magazine Week business seminars. This event brings over 300 ski industry people together at the beginning of every ski season to address the state of the industry and to discuss obstacles and opportunities.

The contributions that George Bauer made are not limited to just the business of skiing. His most important contribution was bringing the joy of skiing to the general public.

George Bauer was very involved in the organization and establishment of NASTAR. NASTAR, the world’s largest recreational ski racing program, is offered at over 100 ski areas in North America. Before NASTAR, skiers had no opportunity to race unless they were on a ski team. Through SKI Magazine, George put NASTAR in operation on a national level.

Another project of George’s was the SKI Magazine “SKIwee” program. Offered at 75 ski areas across the country, “SKIwee” introduces youngsters to skiing.

With Pepi Grammshammer, George established the Legends of Skiing award. The concept behind this award is to honor the skiing greats of the past for today’s skier, highlighting particular racers’ contributions in terms of technique, style or racing accomplishments. This honor is given yearly.

George created America’s 50th Ski Birthday celebration held in conjunction with SKI Magazine and the Sun Valley’s 50th anniversaries. Held at North America’s first destination ski resort, America’s 50th Ski Birthday brought back the origins of the sport to today’s skiers. Bauer, seeing the opportunity to take the 50th Anniversary and preserve it as a tribute to Sun Valley’s place in history, created the Duchin Cup invitational which is hosted by SKI magazine and Sun Valley annually.

Another ski racing event that George created is the Les Streeter Cup – held during SKI Magazine Week. The Streeter Cup gives members of the ski industry the opportunity to compete and ski together in Les Streeter’s memory.

In 1982, George Bauer received the Duffield Award and the Times Mirror Award for Excellence for his outstanding performance in publishing SKI Magazine. He was also a skiing commentator on the “Winter Sportscast,” “American Skier” and the “Sports Express” television programs.

Bauer was on the executive advisory and trade show committees for the United Ski Industries Association; the New York and Westchester/Fairfield Committees for the U.S. Ski Team; the Spider Sabick Scholarship Award Committee; the advisory Board, the Jimmies Heuga Center; U.S. Ski Writers Association; AT&T Ski Award Selection Committee and the Board of Directors, Sports of All Nations, Inc.

George Bauer was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1991.