Assistant Ski Coach Heads U.S. Team

The United States National Ski Team Wednesday named unofficial Harvard assistant ski coach Peter Robes to coach its Nordic combined cross country and jumping team.

Robes has been training the Harvard Nordic skiers unofficially for two years. He also assisted head coach Peter Carter with the training of the alpine skiers on the 55 person team.

Carter said when he asked the Department of Athletics to hire Robes they refused. Robes said the Harvard ski team was paying his coaching expenses. He said this would not affect his eligibility to coach the National Team.

"We had an Olympic caliber coach for the Harvard ski team but the Department of Athletics couldn't scrape enough money together to pay him," Carter said.

Director of Athletics Robert Watson said he knew of no request to hire Robes, nor any expense account for him.

Robes, a former special jumper for the U.S. National team, introduced the Harvard ski team to several revolutionary training and conditioning techniques, Carter said. Under Robes's training, Harvard has produced two eastern champions in the last two years.

"Even with this success and with our improved team showing, we're still not recognized as a bona fide sport," Carter said Thursday. He said he planned to petition the Department of Athletics again for another coach.

Team captain Paul Finnigan said he thought Robes was responsible for keeping Harvard in Division I, New England's top ten collegiate ski teams.

Turned It Around

"He turned the whole team around when he came two winters ago," Finnigan said. "He really left his mark on how to train and he made the team competitive."

Robes, captain of the 1968 University of Wyoming NCAA championship team, housed the Harvard ski team nearly all of last winter in his Meriden, New Hampshire home. Carter said Robes sayed the team a great deal of money in addition to providing expert training.