Gordon Wren was one of America’s best all-round skiers. He was a member of three U.S. Olympic Teams. Wren was a moving force in junior programs in steamboat Springs, Denver and Georgetown, Colorado and in Reno, Nevada.

Gordon Wren was born in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He qualified for four sports on the 1948 US Winter Olympic Team (alpine, cross country, ski jumping and Nordic combined) but dropped everything else to concentrate on ski jumping. He achieved a fifth place in the special jumping event. During the same season, he set jumping records in Switzerland at Arosa, St. Mortiz and Davos.

In 1950 Wren was a member of the F.I.S. Worlds jumping team. That year he was national nordic combined champion and won a second place in the national giant championship. He was the top placing man in American Olympic Ski Jumping. He tied the American record of 197 feet and was the first American to jump over 300 feet. He was the United States nordic champion in 1950.

His 26-year record as a competitor brims over with top places in a host of championship competitions in all of the old four events of skiing with a tremendous record in jumping downhill, slalom and combined. The name of Gordon Wren appears in the championship columns of the National Ski Association, United States Western Ski Association, Rocky Mountain Ski Association, Intermountain Ski Association, Southern Rocky Mountain Ski Association, Olympic tryouts, Pacific Northwest Ski Association and a host of other local and area ski competitions.

He was a moving force in junior ski programs in Denver, Georgetown and Steamboat Springs, Colorado and at Reno, Nevada. In 1959 he was presented with the Russell Wilder Award by the National Ski Association for furthering junior skiing in America and was the recipient of the Ashby Award for service to junior skiing.

From 1950 through 1954 Wren was the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club’s instructor. He accepted the post of recreational director in Reno, Nevada in 1955 where he handled some 1,400 youngsters and was in charge of the world’s largest ski training program. Returning to Colorado in 1959, he headed the Loveland Basin ski program with headquarters in Georgetown, Colorado.

He received the Halstead Trophy for service to Colorado skiing in 1949 and honorable mention in 1949 for the American Ski Trophy Award. In 1959 he received the USSA’s Russell Wilder Award, given annually for outstanding effort in developing youth interest in skiing.

Wren coached such skiers as Marvin Crawford, Skeeter Werner, Gary Knowles, Norris Durham, Bud Werner and Don Hilbert. He also coached juniors who won 20 divisional championships and eight national titles.

Gordon Wren was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1958.