Everyone knows there are two types of expert in every sport. There are those outside the arena. They cluster round bars and lie on the sofa at home, free to pass comment, feel aggrieved at any decision and pontificate on tactics and technique as they please. Wherever, whenever, they always know what they athletes they’re watching should have done! And then there are those within the arena. They really know their stuff, because they have chosen to dedicate their lives to a single sport – everything else comes second. They are successful thanks to their talent and unwavering dedication and have had to put up with a lot to get where they are: all that pain, joy and suffering that, to them, represent just another day at the office. And then, there are the legends. The legends are a step up from the pros. Their achievements are just that little bit more extraordinary, the hurdles they overcome just that little bit higher, their impact even more enduring. But what do you call the legends among legends – those who excel in more than one discipline?
Simple: you call them Staub. Roger Staub.
But let’s start at the beginning. There was once a boy, born in Arosa in July 1936, who was not only a very gifted ice hockey player, but also an extremely talented skier. As a young man at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, he came fourth in the downhill. At the 1956 World Ski Championships in Bad Gastein, he won silver in the downhill, bronze in the giant slalom and bronze in the combined. But it was 1957 that made him a Swiss hero, when he finished second in the downhill at the Lauberhorn and won the Swiss ice hockey championship title as a forward with EHC Arosa. Imagine the scenes if Beat Feuz had not only won the Lauberhorn downhill in 2020, but also lifted the Swiss ice hockey championship title in the same year! They’d probably still be celebrating! In the end, it was hockey’s loss, and skiing’s gain, that Staub eventually decided to stick to the slopes. He shone again at the Lauberhorn in 1959, coming second in the combined with two third-place finishes in the downhill and slalom. The highlight of his career came in 1960 at the Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, when he became (drum roll please) Olympic champion in the giant slalom. Staub was just 25 when he retired from Alpine ski racing to embark on a new career and set up a ski school with his brother Hans.
Among other things, Staub developed the mother of all beanies, the iconic Roger Staub beanie, which covers the entire head except for the mouth and eyes. He won several Swiss championship titles in water skiing. Together with Art Furrer, he was also one of the first skiers to perform daring acrobatic feats at ski shows. Needless to say, he was one of the stars of Ruedi Homberger’s skiing film The Snowboys of Arosa. In 1974, he handed over the reins at the ski school to his brother and moved to Colorado, where he became winter sports director at the famous Vail ski resort. He even met his end in spectacular fashion, crashing from a height of 150 metres while ski gliding. He died one day before his 38th birthday, which he would have celebrated on 1 July 1974.
So if anyone ever asks you: Roger who? You say: Roger Staub – the legend among legends!
So there you have it: essential knowledge no armchair expert should be without. You’re welcome.
Text: Doris Büchel, author, Liechtenstein
