Marvin Crawford, champion of nordic combined, dies at 74{mosimage}STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. -- Marvin Crawford, a former Olympian and a 14-time national champion in Nordic skiing, died Monday after a stroke. He was 74. Crawford competed in the nordic combined in the 1956 Olympics in Cortina, Italy, finishing 23rd, with more points than any American before him.

He grew up in Steamboat Springs and started ski jumping there at age 12. He won the national junior championship two years later. Crawford worked for IBM in Denver and in real estate development and insurance in Steamboat Springs. In retirement, he moved to Grand Junction and then Colorado Springs, where he died.

Crawford is survived by his wife, Edie; three sons, Gary, Rod and Greg; three sisters, Marlene Willie, Jean Olson and Linda Brown; six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

-The Associated Press