The Passing Of A Well Known Jumping Judge

When I first moved to New Hampshire within one week I had found myself, for some reason in early November, checking out the eastern division website.  I had seen the name Bob Rollins listed and his address was given as Newport, NH.  I contacted him the same day and within one or two days we had met up and went out to the Newport jump.  It was thanks to Bob that I did end up getting into ski jumping so quickly after moving up here.

 

Bob has always been a real nice guy.  He jumped during his high school years and for the past 30 years he has been a national level judge and has spent countless hours helping out at the Newport jump to keep it in jumpable shape.  He never became an FIS judge due to his age.  He has judged at jump meets all across the United States and was a marker at both the 1980 and 2002 Winter Olympics.

 

In the first couple of years that I jumped it was pretty much known that if there was a jump meet, divisional or high school, that more than likely Bob was going to be one of the judges.  He finally decided to step down and retire two years ago.  He spent the final season on a grand finale tour throughout the eastern division

 

It came to my surprise late last night when I went onto the eastern division website to see that Bob had died at the age of 75.

 

Keep the ski tips up Bob, you will be missed by all of us.

 

Crash