The Coach as Competitor

JOHN MORTON IS ONE,IN A LINE of coaching athletes football's Buddy Teevens '78 and soccer's Bobby Clark come to mind whose own prowess wins the respect of students. But Morton, who coached Dartmouth skiing from 1978 to 1989, is more than just an athlete these days. He is an older athlete, and an inspirational one.

Morton was no mean younger sportsman: silver NCAA skiing medalist, two-time Olympian (1972 and 1976), two-time U.S. national biathlon champion. After graduation from Middlehury in 1968 he did a four-year army stint, winning a bronze star in Vietnam. He taught English and coached skiing in Alaska before being named head coach of the Dartmouth mens ski team. He was named ski coach of the, year in 1982. And he served as president of the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association from 1985 to 1987.

But here's the inspirational part for most of the readers of this magazine: through devotion to his sport, he appears to have slowed the aging process to a crawl. Morton has the body of an extremely fit 25-year-old, except for a few obligatory lines around his eyes. In 1990 the U.S. Ski Association named him the top crosscountry skier among men over 40. He runs marathons from Anchorage to New York City, and designs cross-country trails from out of his home in Thetford, Vermont. The article in this issue is excerpted from his 1991 book. Don'tLook Back, a good yarn as well as a guide to Morton's own training system. You can order the book from Stackpole Books or from the Dartmouth Bookstore. Pay attention to what the man says. You could start looking like him. Ed.

The dean of American biathletes, John Morton comforted Anna Sonnerup '84after she narrowly missed aberth on the 1990 WinterOlympic team.