Bryan B. Sax Ski Building Dedicated Thursday
BOULDER—The family of former University of Colorado National Champion Bryan Sax was on the CU-Boulder east campus Thursday to participate in a ribbon cutting, officially dedicating the Bryan Benjamin Sax Ski Building in his name. Sax passed away on December 6, 2008 in a midair collision between two small planes in the Florida Everglades.
The building was officially renamed in Sax’s memory on March 4, 2011, and officially dedicated Thursday morning in a ceremony attended by Sax’s mother, Marsha Barnes, his sister Rachel Sax, her husband Mike Mitchell, and their sons Ben and Lincoln. Sax’s father, Don, could not be present on Thursday. Sax was also survived by his wife, Christy and their daughter, Zaya and a stepson Dante Lizotte. He also had a daughter from his first marriage, Hannah. His first wife, Anne Watt, was also a four-year member of the CU ski team.
The family was joined by head ski coach Richard Rokos, former ski coach and athletic director Bill Marolt, Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer, former skier Gary Gisle, who was a part of the first NCAA Championship team in 1959, and current skiers Brooke Wales Granstrom, Shane McLean and Clare Wise.
“For most of us, this is our home away from home, we spend considerable time here,” Rokos said. “The kids study, they tune their skis, it’s functional and now it’s beautiful. It helps us accomplish our goals, we have the locker room and we can work on our skis, all under the same roof. I don’t think the building has an equal anywhere else in college skiing.
Marolt provided some additional history of the building that wasn’t known to Rokos prior to Thursday. It was found out that the building is in fact 40 years old as Marolt built and moved the ski team to the location in 1974, in the middle of his 10 year run as head coach (1968-78).
“All that was here before was a portion of the building to serve the track,” Marolt said. “We were in the stadium, but as the athletic department grew, we got pushed out. The original money for this building came from the Club Team. They owned a place up in Georgetown, but didn’t want to maintain it anymore, so they sold it and gave the money to the ski team for this building.”
Some 40 years later, the building was dedicated as four years of renovations are now complete. The first phase completed in 2011 included a new locker room, a trophy wall and a team lounge. The second phase finished in 2012 included upgrading the coaching offices, adding a kitchenette and an upgrade to the waxing and equipment room.
The final stage in the front of the building was complete this summer and included a new entry into the building and landscaping along the entirety of the front. A significant gift from the Sax Family, those listed above and his father, Don, enabled the Buffs to get the much needed project moving forward.
“A lot of my memories of this building are just watching videos and stuff, hanging out,” Rachel Sax said after cutting the ribbon. “Being here at the crack of dawn, before it was light out, and getting ready to go to Eldora. The biggest difference with the remodel is the skiers can leave their equipment here now, before we had to take it with us everywhere.”
“The most impressive thing to me is to walk in and see all those trophies,” said Marolt who had not seen the building’s remodel. “It represents what the ski team is and has been. The hard work of so many young men and women who came here to ski. They all sacrificed to be on this team, but they all benefited a lot, as well. It’s a nice way to talk about the great skiers of the past and at the same time showing young skiers who are here or thinking about coming here what focus and hard work can accomplish.”
Bryan Sax was captain of CU’s men’s alpine team in 1994-95, his senior year, when he was the giant slalom champion at the 1995 NCAA Championships, helping Colorado to a team victory in the event in Attitash, N.H. A four-year letterman, he was the recipient of the team’s Buddy Werner Award as a senior.
His collegiate skiing career was almost storybook in nature as he started out on CU’s development team, a squad comprised of athletes hoping to one day make the varsity, and ending five years later with an NCAA title in the giant slalom, his only career win though he posted seven top 10 finishes, including a runner-up effort in the slalom in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association championships. He graduated from CU with a degree in Economics.