SportsCenter “together members of the Black skiing population, and the rising star the group hopes to elevate to the U.S. Olympic SC Featured” segment will tell the story of the National Brotherhood of Skiers (NBS), an organization formed to bring together members of the Black skiing population, and the rising star the group hopes to elevate to the U.S. Olympic team.
“Black Diamonds” will debut in the 8 a.m. ET hour of SportsCenter on Sunday, Feb. 28, and will re-air in other editions throughout the day.
At a time when African Americans on the ski slopes were a rarity and Black ski clubs were an exception, Ben Finley and Art Clay, both interviewed in the feature, were not deterred from their vision to create a national organization. In 1973, they moved forward with a proposal to bring together 13 Black ski clubs for an event at the summit of Colorado’s Ajax Mountain, leading to the formation of the NBS.