Craig Kelly

Craig Kelly (April 1, 1966 – January 20, 2003) was an American professional snowboarder. Kelly is known as the 'Godfather of Freeriding'; Terje Håkonsen called Kelly the best snowboarder of all time. Over his 15-year professional career, he won 4 world championships and 3 U.S. championships; he won the Mt. Baker Banked Slalom snowboarding competition in 1988, 1991, and 1993. Education He attended the University of Washington where he was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity and studied Chemical Engineering. Life and snowboarding career Craig grew up in Mount Vernon, WA, a mid-sized town centrally located for equidistant travel to ski areas such as Mount Baker, Stevens Pass and Snoqualmie. Craig spent a lot of time at the Pac West ski area (Hyak, WA) in 1985–86. He used to come up on Mondays when the ski area was closed and would set up gates with some of the workers and run them using a snowmobile to get back and forth. He also won the first snowboard contest held at Hyak, in the 1985–86 season. It was done in conjunction with another founder of the sport, Bob Barci. Craig was a Sims Snowboards rider, founded by Tom Sims, from 1983 until 1987. He spent the remainder of his life riding for Burton Snowboards owned by Jake Burton Carpenter.