Gretchen Fraser

Gretchen Kunigk Fraser (February 11, 1919 – February 17, 1994) was an American alpine ski racer and nurse.

She was the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in skiing, as well as the first American to win an Olympic silver medal in skiing.

A week before her 29th birthday, Fraser won the gold medal in the slalom and a silver medal in the combined event in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

She returned home to a ticker-tape parade in New York and grand receptions in Tacoma, Washington, Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon.

Her Norwegian-born mother was a skier and Gretchen first skied at age 13, at Paradise Valley on the south slopes of Mount Rainier in December 1932.

Under the tutelage of Otto Lang, she became a proficient ski racer.

Gretchen served as president of the Ski Club at Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington and later competed on the ski team at the University of Puget Sound.

As a member of the ski team, she won several competitions on Mount Rainier.

She met 1936 Olympian and Northwest ski champion Donald Fraser (1913–1994) of the University of Washington on the train trip to central Idaho.

She was also the skiing stand-in for ice skater Sonja Henie in the movies Thin Ice (1937) and Sun Valley Serenade (1941).

Fraser was revered in her time for her contributions to American athletics, receiving ticker-tape parades and brand sponsorships upon her return to the United States following her Olympic win.

Born in Tacoma, Washington, Gretchen Kunigk was the daughter of German and Norwegian immigrants, Willibald and Clara Kunigk.

In 1938, she traveled to Sun Valley, Idaho to compete in the second Harriman Cup, a new international event featuring the best racers in the world.

They were married in November 1939 in Tacoma and Sun Valley became their home.After the war, the Frasers moved to Vancouver, Washington.

They had one son, Donald Fraser, Jr.

Fraser was involved in the formation of the American Athletic Academy, assisting athletes with education and career counseling.

Gretchen Fraser was featured in two cartoons created by Wheaties cereal to promote their brand.

These advertisements were showcased in various comic books.

Both Gretchen and her husband, Donald, were members of the 1940 Olympic team, games that were cancelled due to World War II.

Fraser competed in the Winter Olympics in 1948.

Fraser was the guest of honor for the 1948 Daffodil Parade in Tacoma, Washington.

She retired from competition soon after the 1948 Olympics and became an ambassador for Sun Valley and skiing.

However, she returned to the skiing world as the coach of the 1952 US Women's Olympic team.

Later in life she was a mentor to aspiring female ski racers at Sun Valley, including Olympians Susie Corrock, Christin Cooper, Picabo Street, two-time gold medalist Andrea Mead Lawrence, and Paralympian Muffy Davis.

Fraser's husband, Don, was a pilot, which inspired her to begin flying.

She began flying before the Olympics but officially became a private pilot in 1958.

She later met pilot Chuck Yeager and co-piloted jets with him.

She was inducted into the Boise, Idaho chapter of The Ninety-Nines, Inc., an association for women pilots.

After the Olympics, Fraser resumed her work with the disabled community that had began during WWII.

A lifelong equestrian, she taught horseback riding and swimming in a rehabilitation clinic at Madigan Army Medical Center (then Madigan Convalescent Hospital) in Fort Lewis, Washington. She was a founding member of the Oregon Institute for Rehabilitation in Portland, which started as a small clinic with volunteers from the Junior League.

She served on the board for 27 years (Gretchen’s Gold 113-14).

In addition to working at Madigan, Fraser worked at the United States Naval Special Hospital in Sun Valley and Burrell Hospital in Brighten, Utah.

During WWII, Gretchen implemented the first application of the Outrigger Ski System so the amputee veterans at the Sun Valley hospital could learn to ski.

About fifteen years later, she helped to organize the Flying Outriggers Ski Club at Mt. Hood, Oregon, which was the first adaptive ski club in America.

The outrigger ski system has been adapted throughout the world.

Fraser’s work with paralympians in Sun Valley led to her earning the National Paralympic Coach of the Year award in 1984.

Fraser died at age 75 in February 1994, during the Winter Olympics; her husband of 54 years, Don Fraser, had died a month earlier.

They are buried at the city cemetery in Ketchum, Idaho.

Several Pacific Northwest museums Honor Fraser’s importance in the skiing world, including the Alf Engen Ski Museum (Park City, Utah), Wood River Museum (Ketchum, Idaho), Tacoma History Museum (Tacoma, WA), Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum (Snoqualmie Pass, Washington), the Νorthwest Room at the Tacoma Public Library (Tacoma, Washington), and the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Museum (Tacoma, Washington).

She spent the war years skiing in Otto Lang's military training films for the 10th Mountain Division and helping to rehabilitate wounded and disabled veterans through skiing, setting the stage for her lifelong commitment to working with disabled skiers (see Nursing Career section below).