![]() ![]() ![]() Beginning on radio in his native Chicago at age six ("Portia Faces Life"), he came to films at age 14 with Tomorrow, the World! (1944), which was originally a 1943 Broadway drama starring Skippy, Ralph Bellamy and Shirley Booth. So whether it’s looking down the sheer ice face of the Hahnenkamm or into the eyes of a fighting tarpon, Andy Mill has made the community of Aspen proud to call him one of us.A prolific young performer, child/juvenile Skippy Homeier was born George Vincent Homeier on October 5, 1930. He has hosted an outdoor fishing show on the OLN network, is a trustee of the International Game Fish Association and has also written an award-winning book entitled “A Passion for Tarpon.” He has won more Tarpon Gold Cups, the Superbowl of tarpon fishing, than anyone in the world. He often took a rod and reel with him as he traveled with the U.S. ![]() ![]() Even as a young boy in Aspen he worked as a guide at a local fly fishing shop and took every opportunity he could to fish the Roaring Fork and Frying Pan rivers near Aspen. Fly fishing had always been on Andy’s radar. He also produced a how-to skiing series called “Skiing With Andy Mill” and he was often seen at starting gates and finish lines cheerleading and helping to provide color commentary about his fellow teammates and their competitors from all over the world.Īs if becoming the best in skiing wasn’t enough, Mill’s passion turned to tarpon fly fishing after his retirement from decades on the snow. Mill enjoyed a 20-year broadcasting career, covering two Olympics and hundreds of network specials. He has worked to raise money for the Aspen Ski Club’s scholarship fund and has been inducted into the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame and the Aspen Valley Ski Club Hall of Fame. As a result he was honored with the “Olympic Spirit Award.”Īfter his retirement from ski racing he continued to support world class ski racing in Aspen. In order to compete, he froze his leg in the snow minutes before entering the starting gate. In fact, his lower right leg was so badly bruised from a training injury that he could not stand without pain the day before the race. Mill narrowly missed medaling while skiing on a severely injured leg and ankle. Mill’s finish was the best by an American in the men’s downhill in 24 years. Where he placed sixth in the downhill at Patscherkofel, a race that was dramatically won by Austria’s Franz Klammer. Mill’s finest hour in skiing was at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, In Aspen the kids called him the “Downhill Jesus” because of his signature beard and long hair. In the mid-1970s, Mill was nicknamed “Wilde Hund” (wild dog) by Europeans for his gritty style and long hair and beard. For the next seven years he was America’s top downhill racer. Ski Team in 1971, and in 1974, Mill competed at the World Championships in St. Mill was an accomplished junior racer and made the U.S. It wasn’t until his father was relocated to Aspen in the 1960s that Andy found himself in the heart of ski racing, the site of the 1950 World Championships, home of the Roch Cup and one of the most notorious downhill race courses in the world. His father managed a lumber yard in Laramie and Andy and his siblings were exposed to skiing in Wyoming’s Medicine Bow mountains. A product of the Aspen Ski Club of the 1960s, Andy Mill worked his way onto the U.S Ski Team, becoming one of the most decorated Alpine ski racers to come out of Aspen.īorn in Fort Collins, Colorado, Mill came from humble beginnings. ![]()
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