John Bower

John Bower (born 1941) was an American nordic combined skier who competed in the 1960s and later went on to become a coach of the American nordic skiing team for the 1976 and 1980 Winter Olympic team. He also became the first non-European to ever win at the Holmenkollen ski festival in Norway with his 1968 victory in the Nordic combined event. A native of Auburn, Maine, Bower would attend Middlebury College in Vermont where he would win the NCAA national championship in Nordic combined in 1961. After graduating from Middlebury in 1963, he would join the United States Army and serve during the mid-1960s. Bower also won the national Nordic combined event four times (1963, 1966-8). Competing in two Winter Olympics, Bower finished 15th in...