Chuck Ferries

Chuck Ferries was a slalom specialist, skiing for the University of Denver. He was one of the first Americans to win a major international race, winning the 1962 Hahnenkahm slalom. Ferries was the 1958 and 1963 US slalom champion.

After the 1964 Olympics Ferries moved to Seattle as a sales rep but in 1966 he became coach of the US Women’s Ski Team, leading them through the 1968 Winter Olympics. He then became vice-president of marketing at K2, helping them develop their first race skis.

In 1976 Ferries moved to Sun Valley, Idaho, wanting to raise his kids there. Ferries then helped K2 create a new brand, Precision Skis, or PRE, for which he took over marketing, distribution and sales. In 1981 he and several partners bought Scott USA and established it as the world’s best-selling ski pole brand.

In 1992 Ferries and Chicago investor Sam Zell bought the Schwinn bicycle company, moving its headquarters to Boulder, Colorado, and turning the company around, making it profitable. In 1997 they sold Schwinn to Questor Corp., and that year Ferries sold his shares of Scott to European partners and then retired. That lasted only until 2002 when he, his son, and son-in-law bought Chums, a Utah-based manufacturer of eyeglass retainers. Ferries worked with that company until 2018 when illness forced him to step away from the business.