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Check out this "First of Denver Cup" ski jacket I found last week.
Little did I know it is connected with some "Fake News" from 1977.
The First of Denver Cup was a Pro-Am ski race held at Winter Park Colorado from 1977 to 1982 to benefit the Winter Park Handicapped Program.
It was also the site of controversy when Sheik Abdul Haddad raced the slalom wearing flowing Arabic robes in the wake of the OPEC oil crisis in 1977.
Turns out, however, the Sheik was a shoe salesman named George from Minnesota, and all the major international newspapers had been snookered. According to Skiing History Magazine,
Sheik Abdul showed up unannounced to compete in the Pro-Am charity
race held during the First of Denver Pro Race weekend. The fundraiser
supported Hal O’Leary’s innovative Winter Park Handicapped Program. The
sheik was placed on the team captained by pro racer Jake Hoeschler (who
was also director of skiing at Winter Park), with Heisman Trophy-winning
football player Doak Walker and Andy Love, son of former Colorado
Governor John Arthur Love. As the sheik flapped and fluttered across the
finish line, the press corps clustered around him.
The sheik was a
sensation: in the aftermath of the OPEC crisis, the very idea of an oil
sheik carried the aura of vast wealth and veiled threat. The press
wanted pictures, and quotes. All the VIPs wanted to meet him. The
sheik’s bodyguard and translator intervened, explaining that Haddad
spoke no English.
It turned out he spoke no Arabic, either. When photos and stories
about the skiing sheik went out over the AP and UPI wires people
in Duluth, Minn., chuckled. Color photos of Sheik Abdul made the papers
in Paris, Moscow and Tokyo. But the Duluth papers quickly identified him
as George S. Haddad, 56, owner of the Haddad Family Shoe Store and of
Lebanese descent. The shoe store was located a few doors up from the
Continental Ski Shop, where George was a frequent customer. He was also a
well-known figure at Lutsen and other local ski areas, where he often
skied in his “Arab” robes, no doubt avoiding entanglement in rope tows.
The robes had been sewn by his wife, Dorothy Marie Haddad. Haddad even
owned a U.S. patent on a bit of ski equipment he had designed: a
retractable crampon to help a skier climb.
When the Duluth papers had their say, the story unwound. Hoeschler
had arranged for Gerald Ford, Ethel Kennedy and Clint Eastwood to ski in
the Pro-Am, but when Winter Park shifted the dates, Ford and Kennedy
cancelled in favor of previous obligations.
A few days of panic ensued, and then Hoeschler, passing through
Continental Ski Shop, spotted a poster of Haddad skiing in Aspen, robes
and all. If he couldn’t get an ex-president onto Eastwood’s team,
Hoeschler figured he could get a sheik.
And so, with the complicity of Winter Park President Gerry Groswold,
Sheik Haddad arrived at Winter Park in a limousine. He came with a
bodyguard in the person of Jim Bach of the Continental Ski Shop, and
with translator George Abdullah, who taught at Drake University in Iowa.
Haddad later claimed he was scared to run the course: With oil prices
so high, he was afraid “some fanatic” might take a shot at him.
When the Duluth papers broke the story of the hoax, officials at AP
and UPI were furious. UPI, in particular, had been burned in 1976 when
Vail sent them a photo of a blizzard that had been taken two years
earlier. They felt that the reputation of the press was at stake. But no
one from any of the papers or wire services had bothered to fact-check
any of the “oil sheik” stories.
The fallout for Hal O’Leary’s program was spectacular. People around
the world saw the story and felt inspired to send checks to the
handicapped ski team. “We raised 20 times as much over the course of the
year as we had ever done before,” O’Leary told Hoeschler.
Haddad went back to his shoe store, and to Lutsen, where he was now a
local hero. Hoeschler ran out his contract with Winter Park and
returned to his law practice in Minneapolis.
All's well that ends well. Now you can own a very special piece of ski history and fake news history: First of Denver Cup Pro-Am Obermeyer 70s Ski Jacket
Hello Wednesday! Hello WTF!
Hello welcome wall of bunnies.
Hello bucket of bunnies.
Hello bull elk shedding antlers onto his own face.
Hello quarterback aftershave bottle.
Hello clown crying over spilled eyebrow.
Hello Texas A & M bean bag potatohead.
Hello Mike Pence.
Hello Misty.
Hello harmonica gang.
Please don't Ray, okay?
Last but not least, hello poodle with a mustache.
As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.
For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf
New WTF this week:
Hola Wednesday! Hola WTF!
Hola sheepskin exercycle seat!
Hola craptastic birds gone wild!
Hola foxes getting married.
Hola Falkor wearing mascara!
Hola clothespin antelope pencil holder from Dillon, Montana!
Hola sandalfoot knee highs in an Easter basket!
Kevin's a Capricorn - this is harsh but fair.
Hola Manatee in an Adirondack chair sipping on an umbrella drink!
Hola record For Doctors Only!
Hola Small Lonely Hill!
Hola cassettes about Financial and Estate Planning from a Biblical Perspective - Scriptural Basis for Wealth!
Last but not least, I imagine the work order was "paint everything - the walls, the gutters, the downspouts, everything." "Everything?" "Everything."
As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.
For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf
New WTF this week:
Greetz, Wednesday! Greetz, WTF!
Greetz, giant-eared cat wearing eye shadow and kissing a frog.
Greetz, gun-toting, leg-crossing hillbilly!
Greetz, backwards-footed, zoned out Eskimo baby.
Last but not least, greetz family of hissing, snarling tigers.
As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.
For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf
New WTF this week:
Hello Wednesday! Hello WTF!
Hello suspect worm coming out of the Q in Tequilas.
Hello triple dip mustache of Martin Luther King as seen through the eyes and crayons of a 5 year old.
Hello More Wealth without Risk.
Hello Fitness Walking for Women (right next to "How to Make Every Man Want You").
Hello Kids Are Worth It!
Hello Questionable Yoga Mice.
Hello Bigger, Frillier Yoga Mice.
Hello Flamingo dressed in a lace clown suit.
Last but not least, Happy Tongue Out Tuesday!
As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.
For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf
New WTF this week:
Swedish meatballs fly around everywhere in sight!
Check out the crazy WTF newest funnest video from Guadalajara Joe - On Shrooms at Ikea!
Guady's silky Adidas rainbow paraglider shirt is from Skippy Haha Vintage!
Also if you like what you just saw and want to hear more, stream Guadalajara Joe's new album ('or more like a group of songs'), "Children of the Corn Dogs" here at bandcamp for the low, low price of zero dollars.
(This week is GJ's birthday, so if you'd like to kick him a few bucks, that's cool too!)
I think we can all use some more laughing, singing, shrooms, and nuts dancing in capri pants and aquasocks in our lives right about now!
Hello Wednesday! Hello WTF!
Hello magnet head lady.
Hello found drone.
Hello mailbox for Santa attached to the side of the Post Office.
Hello God has Blessed America, That's Why We're Number 1 Poster!
Part of the 1986 Statue of Liberty Day Anti-Welfare celebration. USA! USA! USA!
Not surprised to see this photo at the Goodwill, I hope he didn't kill her.
Last but not least, hello gorilla in a Let It Snow vest.
As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.
For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf
New WTF this week:
Greetings from Colorful Colorado!
While I have not done much thrifting as of yet, I have seen a few WTF things along the way to share.
From a truck stop in Kansas, a lovely vending machine offering Horny Goat Weed and Politically Incorrect Novelties. I never wished I had quarters more, but alas.
Herd of elk? In the yard? Okay then!
Dog in a fireplace.
Wood paneled 80's Pepsi machine!
Last but not least, extremely fluffy cat portrait.
As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.
For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf
New WTF this week:
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