József Piroska

József Piroska started skiing in the Buda hills near his home at the age of 14. Between 1950 and 1954 he competed for Bp. Előre, in 1954 for Bp. Lokomotív, and between 1955 and 1956 for Bp. Törekvés. Piroska won his only individual championship title in downhill skiing in 1955 and was also a part of six more Hungarian championship titles in team competitions.

Between 1952 and 1956 Piroska was a member of the Hungarian national team. At the 1952 Oslo Olympics he finished 79th in the giant slalom. He also competed in the slalom but finished 78th in the first race and was therefore unable to compete in the second race. Two years later he competed in the World Championships in Are, Sweden where he finished 52nd in the slalom. In addition to his active sports career, he also earned an engineering degree from the Budapest University of Technology.

The 1956 revolution caught up with him in Wein, where Piroska ran into his old sports partner, Kornél Pajor, who was already living in Sweden at the time, and who had organized relief packages for his compatriots who had been displaced during the revolution. After the revolution was crushed, Piroska left for Sweden as Kornél Pajor’s driver. Within a year he had found a job at the Stockholm Energy Service Company, where he worked until his retirement.

His brother János Piroska was also a Hungarian champion and international skier.