Hall of Fame
The seventh of eleven children of a missionary couple out of Costa Rica, Arturo Kinch enrolled at Rockmont College in 1974. A three-sport athlete for the Rockets, Kinch competed in basketball, soccer, and downhill skiing, before graduating in 1979 with degrees in biblical studies and camping and recreation. According to a 1984 Seattle Times article, Arturo merely “took up skiing to stay in shape for soccer while attending Rockmont. He tried out for the college ski team because that seemed far better than riding the bench as a third-team basketball player. Despite his inexperience, he wound up as the ski team’s top point scorer a couple of seasons. Encouraged by several coaches, Kinch decided to keep racing. He learned that to be eligible for international competition, he had to belong to his national ski association.” At 27, he founded the Costa Rica Ski Association.
In 1980, Arturo Kinch competed at the Lake Placid Olympics – as Costa Rica’s first and only Olympic athlete in the sport. “The sole competitor from a country without snow”, would compete as an Olympic athlete three more times: in 1984, 1988, and Salt Lake’s 2002 games. Not bad for a skier whose career began in college.
Now a customer service representative for United Airlines, Arturo has one daughter and resides in Denver.
