Bill Beck was a member of the 1952 Winter Olympic Team. He placed fifth in the Alpine skiing event held in Oslo, Sweden—the best Olympic downhill result for an American man until Bill Johnson’s victory in 1984. Beck was prominent in the international ski circuit in the 1950s and is regarded as Rhode Island’s greatest all-time skier. In 1960, he coached the US Men’s Alpine Ski team.
Beck was born in Malden, Massachusetts, on September 1, 1929, the son of William M.H. Beck, Jr. and Ruth Clark LeBaron Beck. His family moved to Wakefield, Rhode Island, when Bill was five. He graduated from Wakefield High School in 1949 and Dartmouth College in 1953. As a member of the Dartmouth ski team, he won national and North American downhill championships. He captained the 1956 Olympic squad and was head men’s coach at the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, Bill served as an official in the downhill skiing events.
After his competitive skiing days, he founded, with Olympic teammate Verne Goodwin, the Skihaus stores in Middlebury and Rutland and Beck-Goodwin, Inc., a sales firm for ski equipment in the eastern half of the US. In 1970, they sold Beck-Goodwin, Inc. to the Garcia Corp. with a 5-year contract to manage the ski and hockey division. He left the ski equipment business in 1975 and opened Bill Beck Real Estate, a residential real estate firm in Middlebury. Bill retired in 2001.
Beck was married for 34 years to Coleen Fitzsimmons of South Burlington, Vermont, his best friend and business associate, until her death on September 29, 2013. Bill and Coleen enjoyed an exceptional life together with extensive traveling. Whether they were sailing on Lake Champlain, the Caribbean, or the South Pacific, playing golf, or traveling in their motor homes to places unknown, there were always adventures to be had.
Bill died in Middlebury, Vermont, on February 16, 2017, at the age of 87, following a brief Illness. Bill is survived by his son Billy Beck, daughter-in-law Jenna, and grandsons Will and Jack of Victor, ID.
Bill Beck was inducted into The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1968 and the Dartmouth Sports Hall of Fame in 1971.
For additional reading:
Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; “William Beck Olympic Results”. Olympics at Sports-Reference.com, April 18, 2020.