Skeeter Werner Walker

Gladys Maxine "Skeeter" Werner Walker (December 22, 1933 – July 20, 2001) was an alpine ski racer and Olympian from the United States.^[1][2]

Skeeter Werner Walker
Full name	Gladys Maxine Werner (-Walker)
Born	(1933-12-22)December 22, 1933 Steamboat Springs, Colorado, U.S.
Died	July 20, 2001(2001-07-20) (aged 67) Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Biography

Born and raised in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, "Skeeter" Werner learned to ski and race at Howelsen Hill.^[3] An alternate for the 1952 Olympic team,^[4] she was youngest member of the U.S. Ski Team at the 1954 World Championships^[5] and the U.S. Olympic team in 1956. Werner retired from competition in 1958, and modeled and designed fashions in New York.^[6] She returned to Steamboat Springs in 1962 and opened a ski shop with her younger brothers Wallace ("Buddy" 1936–64) and Loris ("Bugs" b.1941), also Olympians.^[1] She later founded the Steamboat Ski School.

In 1966, one of her ski school students was Doak Walker,^[7] a famous NFL running back (and winner of the Heisman Trophy in 1948). They eloped in 1969 to Las Vegas^[1][8] and lived together in Steamboat Springs for the rest of their lives. He died in 1998 at age 71,^[9][10] eight months after a ski accident left him paralyzed.^[11][12] She died of cancer in July 2001, at age 67.^[1][6]