The Marshall Plan: Vermont's Jesse Marshall may be the best ski racer you've never heard of

By Published On: April 16th, 2003Comments Off on The Marshall Plan: Vermont's Jesse Marshall may be the best ski racer you've never heard of

The Marshall Plan: Vermont’s Jesse Marshall may be the best ski racer you’ve never heard ofJesse Marshall has a plan. It’s a plan that has led Marshall to the pinnacle of domestic racing and one that has also turned any preconceptions about ski racing development on their heads. And like so many other anomalies that rudely upset our sense of order, there is so much to be learned from it.

The World Cup model for success, once pushed by our national development program, indicated that if youngsters weren’t collecting Junior Olympic medals by the time they were 13, forget it. The message clearly was, “Thank you for playing, but go try another sport.” Thankfully, Marshall was having too much fun to notice or care.

If you haven’t heard of the 22-year-old Marshall from Pittsfield, Vt., that’s understandable; self-promotion has never been his strong suit. But Marshall’s been on a tear this season. He never won a Junior Olympic medal or was selected for a World Junior Championship event, but in NorAm competition this season, Marshall won the GS title, finished second in the slalom standings and captured the overall. For an encore he nabbed a pair of bronze medals at the U.S. Alpine Championships, in the slalom and GS, behind only USST stars Bode Miller and Erik Schlopy.

Named to the U.S. C Team as a discretionary choice last spring by Phil McNichol, head men’s coach, Marshall has made McNichol look clairvoyant. But when Marshall was 13, he didn’t look much like U.S. Ski Team material. “I think I was 12 seconds out in the super G in my first Junior Olympics,” he recalled. “I was more excited about staying in a place where I could ski right onto the lifts.”

And why not? Skiing has been Marshall’s passion ever since he tested his first pair of skis on the stairs of his house and missed the turn on the landing, leaving a small body imprint and two ski-sized holes in the Sheetrock. Within a few years, Marshall could be seen every day on the slopes of Killington in Vermont, where his mother was an instructor. Like Forrest Gump on skis, Marshall skied up and down, up and down all day long, every day until the lifts closed in May. “I mostly free skied as a IV,” said Marshall. “I started running some gates as a III.” Marshall also dabbled in mogul skiing with future stars Evan Dybvig, Evan Raps and Luke Westerlund, and even won a USSA mogul event as a J III. But once he committed himself to ski racing at Killington, the hook was set.

That Marshall never stood at the head of his age-class never fazed him or diminished his enthusiasm for racing. “Ski racing’s more than just about winning,” said Marshall. “You have to love what you’re doing.” In fact, he views his less-than-stellar results during his junior years as a blessing. “I don’t know much about too much success as a junior,” he said. “But the kids under pressure to win tend to burn out. It’s the kids who are doing what they want — loving it — who are successful. Most of the kids I grew up with who won JO’s aren’t even racing, I haven’t seen them in years.”

Marshall migrated up Route 100 to the Green Mountain Valley School program as a first year J II, although he still lived at home and continued to follow his home school regimen. It was at GMVS that Marshall first started working with Steve Utter, the head coach. “Jesse actually had the good fortune of not being the best when he was younger,” said Utter. “As a result he was humble, hungry, and always had the opportunity to chase after better skiers.”

As other skiers fell off the ladder at various intervals, Marshall kept steadily ascending — one rung at a time, and when he was 19, he locked his sights on the U.S. Ski Team. Shy by nature, Marshall kept his lofty ambitions to himself, and it would be another two years before he reached his goal. “It took a while for him to prove he was worthy of his own ambitions,” said Utter. Even this past season Marshall discovered he had aimed too low. He had set his goals for a top 15 finish in the NorAm GS standings and top 10 in slalom. “I’m still in shock,” Marshall said this spring, clearly surprised by his performance.

Marshall sees the maturing process as the catalyst that catapulted him to the top of the ladder after so many years of mediocrity. “It just takes a while to grow up, to mature physically, to believe in yourself,” he said.

Carving out your own original plan is never easy. Sponsors and scholarship aid have kept Marshall out of the woods financially, and Marshall has resisted pressures to move on to college. “There will be a time for college,” he said, “but I want to devote my time to one or the other.”

At this point in Marshall’s life, “the other” is ski racing and devoting time to it is the only easy part. “Ski racing is something I love and you’re only 20 once,” he said. “I plan to take advantage of it.”

Marshall’s well aware that winning NorAms and being competitive on the World Cup are light-years apart, but regarding his chances, Utter said, “I wouldn’t bet against him.”

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About the Author: Pete Rugh