In 1980, Americans went wild over “The Miracle on Ice” when the underdog U.S. hockey team upset the heavily favored Soviets and then Finland at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Among the thousands of athletes from around the world who competed that year was Glenn Jobe, an Olympic athlete from the University of Nevada, Reno and a member of the Wolf Pack’s ski team.
But now, the ski team that produced Jobe and other top competitors is fighting to stay alive. University officials announced in June that the team will not receive funding because of budget cutbacks. The department will cover tuition waivers and coaches’ salaries this season, but funding will be eliminated in 2010-11.
“I think it’s very important to keep the ski team going,” Jobe, who competed in the biathlon of nordic skiing and riflery, said today. “It has a legacy of being a successful team.”
That’s just one of the reasons the Nevada ski team is counting on the success of its largest fundraising event, the 28th annual UNR Ski and Board Swap, which starts tonight at the Reno Livestock Events Center.
The team will receive 20 percent of the profits from the three-day event that runs through Sunday.
