“NBS works to identify, develop and support athletes of color that are going to win international and Olympic competitions representing the United States. That is our mission right now,” says Henry Rivers
It was the winter of 1997. Henry Rivers vividly remembers the ski trip to Vail, Colorado. The cool crisp air, the freshly fallen snow, and thousands of skiers and snowboarders who looked just like him.
“There were 5,000 Black people in there, all smiling, all with the best looking gear you could imagine,” Rivers explains. “Then you look up the hill and you’re seeing people skiing down. I mean, just expert skiers coming down. I was just like, ‘Wow.’”
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Those winter sports enthusiasts were there for the National Brotherhood of Skiers Annual Summit, an organization created by Ben Finley and Art Clay.
Rivers, who currently serves as the President of NBS tells theGrio how the founders met in 1972 through a mutual friend. Finley was President of the Four Seasons West Ski Club of Los Angeles and Clay was Trip Director of the Sno-Gophers Ski Club of Chicago.
“These were two young Black skiers back then from different clubs—one from Chicago, one from the L.A.,” he says. “They got together and organized what has become the National Brotherhood of Skiers. Initially it was just 13 clubs that they got together with.”
Source: National Brotherhood of Skiers: Diversifying the slopes one mountain at a time
