Chris MCNEILL

Chris McNeil qualified for the 1976 Olympic team as an alternate but did not compete. Growing up in Steamboat Springs, he excelled in football and wrestling in high school. After winning the 1972 US Junior ski jumping title, he was on the US national team from 1972-80, competing at the 1978 World Championships. His biggest victory came at the 1979 Lake Placid Pre-Olympic Meet on the normal hill, and he was third that year at the US Championships on the normal hill. He attended Montana State University. McNeil later worked for the Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp. for 25 years, until his untimely death from a pulmonary embolism. In summers he worked in Montana on the family-owned Diamond Hitch Outfitters.