Archives West Finding Aid

James (Jim) Rodney Gaddis was born on 28 February 1940 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was the third of five sons born to Glen and Franc Ida Gaddis. For three or four years the family lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Monterey, California, while his father was in the army. Gaddis graduated in 1958 from East High School. He earned a scholarship to the University of Utah where he graduated in 1962 with a degree in banking and finance.

Gaddis received his first pair of skis as a Christmas present when he was nine years old and started skiing on the slopes of the nearby Salt Lake Country Club Golf Course. In 1950 he entered his first race. Although Gaddis' parents did not ski, (his father had contracted polio in 1943 and was confined to a wheelchair), he had two older brothers, Don and Bob, who skied competitively. When Gaddis was eleven years old, his brother Bob opened a ski shop in Alta, Utah. Gaddis worked in the summer as a caddy at the Salt Lake Country Club to earn enough money to ski in the winter.

Gaddis' first ski trip was the Intermountain Division Championship at the Bear Gulch Ski Resort in Ashton, Idaho. He was fourteen years old at that time. When Gaddis was about sixteen, he competed in the Intermountain Junior Downhill and Slalom Race in Ogden, Utah. Gaddis went on to compete and win, at least once, in every Intermountain and local ski race.

During his years in college, Gaddis not only skied but also competed for four years as a member of the University of Utah golf team.

In a five year span from 1959-1963, Gaddis was the NCAA Alpine combined champion in both 1960 and 1962 and won the NCAA Slalom Championship in 1962. He earned all-American honors in 1960 and received the James E. Moss Award as the outstanding athlete-scholar at the University of Utah in 1962. He won the Alta Snow Cup in 1962, 1963, and 1964. He aspired to represent the United States in the Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1964, but was not chosen for the team.

Since retiring from competitive ski racing, Gaddis has spent many years giving back to skiing what he gained. He has been instrumental in promoting and developing ski racing in Utah. He founded the Gaddis Training Organization (GTO), which has produced several junior Alpine champions. In 1973-1974, GTO consolidated with the Park City Racing Team to form the Utah Ski Foundation. Gaddis currently owns and operates Gaddis Investments, a real estate development and brokerage firm.