ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Today, we remember a notable centenarian. Val Tanaka founded the first Black ski club in Colorado in 1972. She died this fall, and Colorado Public Radio's Andrea Dukakis has her story.
ANDREA DUKAKIS, BYLINE: Valeria Tanaka was born March 10, 1924, and grew up in St. Louis. In her early 20s, she moved to the West Coast, where she tried skiing for the first time and got hooked. Her daughter, Joanne Tanaka Cuerden, says her mom loved the sport so much she was always encouraging others to try it.
JOANNA TANAKA CUERDEN: My mom always had, like, extra mittens and hats and gloves and ski clothes and equipment that other people could use, and wanted other people to enjoy the sport because she loved it.
DUKAKIS: Eventually, Val married and made her way to Denver. In a 2002 PBS story about Colorado skiing, she remembered taking part in slalom competitions.
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VAL TANAKA: I just loved to ski. I loved the race. I would get to the top of the gate, and I'd be so nervous I just couldn't wait for the gate to open. And the minute it would open, I'm down. And one day, I didn't think I did anything, and I got the gold (laughter).
DUKAKIS: Tanaka said when she began skiing, Black women like her were a rarity on the slopes.
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TANAKA: And so we were kind of like, I wouldn't say pioneers, but it was innovative for us to be up there in the first place. And when we saw a person of color on the hill and we'd go skiing over to them - everybody was trying to get everybody together 'cause there were so few of us.
DUKAKIS: In Colorado, Tanaka, along with her husband, taught their children to ski, says daughter Joanne.
TANAKA CUERDEN: We all learned between the legs of, you know, Mom, doing the snow plow ski.
DUKAKIS: The Tanaka family liked to ski with a big group of friends, many of them Black. In 1972, they formed Colorado's first Black ski club, which is still around today. They called it Sippers-N-Sliders - a nod to their love of the sport and sometimes a glass of wine after skiing. Roxanne Garlington is the club's current president. Her mother was a founding member.
ROXANNE GARLINGTON: We usually would have two buses going up, and we would ride up with our parents and come home and do it again, you know, way back, early '70s.
DUKAKIS: Today, the club is called Slippers-N-Sliders, ditching the alcohol reference. The group offers a three-year program so kids can learn to ski for free, a way to draw children who wouldn't normally be able to afford the sport. Val Tanaka eventually stopped skiing due to knee and back issues, but her daughter Joanne says her mom relished life right up until she died. She was 100 1/2 years old. For NPR News, I'm Andrea Dukakis.
(SOUNDBITE OF YO LA TENGO SONG "I HEARD YOU LOOKING") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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