Jonny Moseley was a charismatic innovator in the world of freestyle skiing who backed his looks, high voltage smile and charm with outstanding performances to be one of the most talked about skiers of his day.

Although he was born in Puerto Rico, he was on skis by the age of five! Despite his early promise as a ski racer, he followed his brothers in the freestyle world by joining the Squaw Valley Freestyle Ski Team in 1982. Even At a young age, he had a deep commitment to be the very best and devoted 100 days per year, through much of his childhood into his early teens, to training and practicing in gymnastics, ballet and indoor carpet skiing as well as snow skiing. At the age of fifteen, he won his first junior national title.

In 1993, he made the U.S. Ski Team but was deeply disappointed not to qualify for the Olympics in Lillehammer in 1994. He continued to progress, winning his first World Cup event in 1995 and was third at the World Championships in the combined. Altogether, he would win 15 World Cup events during his career and 4 overall titles

Moseley’s innovative and daring approach to moguls which was his first love in freestyle was evident at the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano in 1998. There he inserted a 360 degree mute grab into his second jump and finished a full point ahead of his nearest competitor to claim the gold medal. The United States Olympic Committee named him its Sportsman of the Year.

The next year saw the first appearance of what became his signature move, “The Dinner Roll,” an off axis jump in which he rotated while his feet came close to going over his head. Inverted moves were ruled illegal by the FIS for moguls competitors at that time. Still Moseley used it in the ESPN X Games in 1999 to claim the silver medal and went on to win the Professional Mogul Tour. In 2000, he won the U.S. Open slope style event in Vail.

After successfully lobbying the FIS to make The Dinner Roll move legal, Moseley worked hard to qualify for the 2002 U.S. Olympic Team. In Salt Lake City, he finished fourth despite flawlessly landing his signature move. It was an unpopular and controversial result for his legions of fans.

He has starred in numerous ski films and made many noteworthy television appearances, including providing an Emmy winning segment for the David Letterman Show and hosting “Saturday Night Live”. In 2005, he organized the first Urban Big Air contest on the streets of San Francisco.

Jonny Moseley was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 2006.