Lake Placid (USA) The federation USA Bobsled/Skeleton (USABS) announced the six individuals that will be inducted into its Hall of Fame for significant contributions to the sports of bobsleigh and skeleton.
Bobsleigh push athlete Steve Mesler was Olympic and World Champion, is a three-times Olympian and won 39 world cup medals - the most of any American bobsled push athlete in history. In 2009, Mesler and his sister, Dr. Leigh Mesler Parise, founded Classroom Champions, an international organization that connects athetes to students in classrooms in various countries.
Tristan Gale Geisler was a pioneer in the sport of Women’s Skeleton, competing in the inaugural women’s skeleton Olympic race in her hometown of Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002. In front of her friends and family, Gale Geisler became the first-ever women’s skeleton Olympic champion.
Randy Jones competed in the 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2006 Olympics as a push athlete, winning the Olympic silver medal in the four-man bobsled event alongside Todd Hays, Bill Schuffenhauer, and Garrett Hines.
Vonetta Flowers was a pioneer as a female brakeman in the sport of bobsled by competing in the first two women’s bobsled Olympic races in 2002 and 2006. Flowers pushed Jill Bakken in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, winning the inaugural gold medal in the event. As part of the winning team, Flowers became the first African-American Winter Olympic gold medalist in history in any sport.
Bobsleigh pilot James Morgan was one of the top bobsled pilots in the country, finishing seventh in 2-man Bobsleigh at the 1975 World Championships in Cervinia (ITA) and 12th and 13th at the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympic Games in the 2-man and 4-man competitions. He lost his life during the 1981 world championships in the final curve of the Cortina (ITA) track. After his younger brother John, who, amongst others, commentated countless Bobsleigh and Skeleton races for various broadcasts including the IBSF livestreams, James is the second Morgan sibling in the USABS Hall of Fame.
Geoff Bodine, a former NASCAR driver and the 1986 Daytona 500 winner, brought car racing principles, competitive savvy, and 3-D design software to build bobsleighs. His 4-man “Night Train” driven by the late Steven Holcomb won the 2010 Olympic gold medal.
