By KENT MINCER

The Daily Sentinel

Little did Ed Lucks realize when his wife got him involved in disabled skiing what a rewarding run he would have as a ski instructor.

What started as a whim turned out to be a 28-year showcase for Lucks — a showcase for which he was honored this fall by the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame.

Lucks was one of five inductees into the Hall of Fame in 2005.

Ed, who with his wife, Evie, moved to Grand Junction four years ago, grew up in Minnesota. He and Evie went out on their first date on the day he graduated from high school.

“After graduation we took a seven-mile walk around the lake,” Ed said.

They were married in 1942.

After serving in the military during World War II as a flight instructor, he returned to Minnesota to pursue his primary career as a pharmacist.

In the mid-1940s, he took up skiing.

“My first turns were, grab the tree and turn to the left, grab the tree and turn to the right,” he said.

After that first thrill of careening down the hill, Ed and Evie began to pursue the sport more seriously.

The Lucks would frequently find themselves driving from southern Minnesota to northern Minnesota, Michigan or Wisconsin on a Friday night, getting up early Saturday after a short night’s sleep, skiing all day Saturday, skiing all day Sunday, then driving the 300 or 400 miles back home in time to be ready for work bright and early Monday morning.

Tired of all the time spent commuting to and from ski areas, they decided to move to Colorado to be a little closer to the action. Ed got a job as a pharmacist in Northglenn in 1964. He worked his schedule so that he would put in his 40 hours during a four-day work week and have three-day weekends. The Lucks began to travel to Arapahoe Basin, where he became an instructor on the weekends. The Lucks’ love of skiing would be passed on to their four kids, each of whom would become either a ski instructor or a member of the ski patrol.

Two years later, the management at A-Basin was looking for an instructor to test the new waters of helping to teach skiing to the disabled.

“Nineteen-sixty-six is when Evie volunteered me for the handicap program,” he said.

The challenge for Ed became trying to develop instruction techniques and equipment that would fit each skier’s need.

No matter the disability, “One of the first things I taught every skier was how to fall down properly and how to get up,” he said.

Lucks began working with disabled Vietnam veterans and patients at Children’s Hospital in Denver.

He went to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital to rig up equipment and outrigger poles, which he built in his basement.

In 1969, Ed got an opportunity to work in a pharmacy in Aspen. The Lucks moved to the upper Roaring Fork Valley and he began instructing at the Snowmass Ski Area.

He fully intended to spend the rest of his skiing life doing private instruction, but the need for an instructor to work with the disabled again rose. With his experience, the ski area chose him.

“I (taught) every single disability you could think of,” he said. “Each student that would call me, I’d read up on that disability. In an eight-hour day, I might teach eight different disabilities.”

He skied blindfolded to simulate skiing blind. He practiced skiing on one leg. He figured out how to ski with an arm or a leg prosthesis.

He got some help from ski equipment stores in the area, primarily from Gene Taylor’s Sporting Goods in Aspen, in helping to construct equipment to fit each skier’s need.

He kept a 4-by-6-inch index card with information on every returning student he had, to remind himself of their disability and the challenge he faced in teaching them.

He worked with disabled (and able-bodied) skiers in Snowmass for 26 years. His efforts did not go unnoticed.

He was inducted into the National Disabled Ski Hall of Fame in Breckenridge. Four years before his retirement in 1995 as an instructor in Snowmass, the mayor of the community declared an Ed Lucks Day.

And, of course, there was his induction in October to the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame in Vail.

As his legacy upon his retirement, he established the Ed Lucks Foundation to help bring in donations for disabled ski programs.

Through his instruction, he took trips to Europe, where he shared his knowledge and his discoveries with other instructors.

“We’ve got friends from all over the world because of it,” he said.

He never began instructing the disabled to receive accolades.

“It’s been so wonderful to see them do this,” he said.

He still hears from some of his former students, mostly around Christmas. It still brings joy to his heart.

“It’s been a wonderful experience for both of us, huh Evie?” he asked his wife.

She could do nothing but heartily concur.

Kent Mincer can be reached via e-mail at kmincer@gjds.com.