The Lowell Whiteman School

Johnny Spillane, Triple Silver Medalist Olympian

In 2010, Johnny Spillane Makes Olympic History

Won the First EVER U.S. Olympic Medal in Nordic Individual and went on to earn two more Silver Medals

Lowell Whiteman School Class of 1999

“They [The Lowell Whiteman School] allowed me to miss school and do my work on the road.” When Johnny gave us this quote, we asked our Olympian for one piece of advice for an aspiring athlete, “Keep trying, always have fun.  If it’s not fun, then you shouldn’t be doing it.”

Career Highlights:

• 2010 Three-time Silver Medalist, Vancouver Olympics, Individual and Team Events

• 2010 Individual World Cup Winner, Nordic Combined, Individual

• Olympic Games : 1998, ‘02, ‘06, '10

• World Championships – 1999: (Gold Medal Juniors) ‘01, ‘03, ‘05, ‘07, ‘08, 10, (Graduated Lowell Whiteman ‘99)

• 2008: Opened with his fifth podium (Kuusamo, individual)

• 2005: Fourth podium of his career, Trondheim, NOR

• 2003: Sprint World Champion

• 2003: 10 World Cup top-10s

• 2003: U.S. Large Hill Jumping Champ

• JWCs Gold in ‘99, Silver in ‘00

The Makings of an Olympian – Bringing Home the Silver Medals

Johnny Spillane first realized a boyhood dream when he became the first U.S. Nordic World Champion, winning the Nordic combined sprint title at the 2003 FIS Nordic World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy.   He participated in three Olympic Games which laid the foundation for the the 2010 games in Vancouver, Canada.  Before he could get there, however, he fought injury after injury, most recently in his knees, to continue training and competing.  Twelve years after his first Olympic Games, any kind of showing in Vancouver at all seemed impossible to Johnny after the rough summer he had in ‘09.

But he brought home the medals to the astonishment of the Nordic world.

Johnny began skiing when he was nine years old, his boyhood home only a few blocks from one of the largest ski jumps in the U.S. at the time in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  Back then, he was an Alpine skier and did his first jumps in Nordic on alpine skis before he graduated to Nordic skis.   Nordic was virtually unknown in the U.S. though Johnny’s hometown was well familiar with it.  In the early1900’s, a Norwegian named Carl Howelsen moved to town and showed the towns folk how to take their wooden skis, previously only used for transportation, off of a large jump.  Johnny grew up watching others do what looked a bit crazy, but then, he thought, why  not?  He never looked back.

Johnny had excellent coaches at SSWSC and a school which supported him.  At the time, he didn’t get a lot of notoriety for competing, though he and  many alums from LWS (The Lowell Whiteman School) who would also go to the Olympics.  Many went while they were still in high school – Clint Jones ‘03, Tommy Schwall ‘02, Ryan Heckman ‘93, and Dave Jarrett ‘89.

“He missed a lot of school,” reported Academic Dean Joanne Lasko.  But LWS tailored his schedule to his needs and he still got an excellent education while he traveled, competed and trained.  He kept working and kept his focus.  He didn’t let the fact that Nordic Combined was virtually unknown in the U.S. stop him.

“In Europe in those days, we were heroic,” fellow Whiteman competitor Clint Jones said.  “We had groupies.  We’d come home and nobody knew us.  Nordic just wasn’t that big of a deal in the U.S.”

Johnny first made the U.S.A. Development Elite Team at the end of 1996-97.  “My goals were to make the top twenty in the world, and to qualify for the World Cup Tour.”  He was ambitious the following season as well, “I wanted to have a strong showing at World Championships and to place top three at World Juniors.” A gold medal there was a pretty strong showing.

Prior to that Gold medal, only two other U.S. skiers had won medals.  Anders Haugen took a bronze in jumping at the 1924 Olympics in Chamonix, France, and Bill Koch won silver in the 30km men’s cross-country race at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and a bronze in the same event at the 1982 World Championships in Oslo, Norway.   When Johnny traveled to the ‘98 Olympics in Nagano, Japan, while still in high school, he realized the sport might really be his future.   At the time, he didn’t know how long the road would be to an Olympic medal in 2010.

The Spillane family is close and this certainly had much to do with Johnny’s success and continued efforts.  Academics were important to the family.  His father, Jim, was the Head of School of The Lowell Whiteman School for 17 years.  The SSWSC/LWS combination has produced many fine athletes such as Johnny, 17 other Olympians, and fellow silver Medalist Travis Mayer, in Moguls, 2002.   Johnny’s mother, Nancy, founded a charter school, The Lowell Whiteman Primary School, in 1993 and is still running it today. It is no surprise that the next generation of Spillanes are dedicated “life-long” learners, as sister Katie describes it.   Johnny skied and jumped hard, but he also studied hard and graduated from The Lowell Whiteman School in 1999 and has been going to school and training in Nordic ever since.

Johnny told reporters in Vancouver that many, many people made it possible for him to medal in the Olympics.   He thanked his coaches, friends, family, fellow competitors, his teachers, and even those who helped him recover from his injuries.  He emphasized the team effort it took to get to the podium.

Johnny’s Olympic Team coach in 2010, Dave Jarrett, is a 1989 Graduate of LWS and the LWS connections continue.  Teammate Todd Lodwick is married to an LWS Alumna, Sunny Lodwick.  It was old home week for Steamboat and The Lowell Whiteman School in Vancouver when Johnny crossed the finish line to such world-wide fanfare.  Nancy Spillane laughed when she described the day after his medal win.  “We heard Johnny had a spread on the front page of a Cambodian newspaper!”

Thanks to those who worked through the years to bring the newest U.S. Olympic Team to its current grand standing, and thanks to Johnny Spillane and his teammates, Americans know what Nordic Combined is now!

Newsuser.com reported 2/12/2010

On Sunday, an American finally won a medal.

Johnny Spillane snagged the silver and Todd Lodwick narrowly missed joining him on the podium, finishing fourth. Spillane nearly got the gold, finishing a mere four-tenths of a second behind Jason Lamy Chappuis, who was born in Missoula, Mont., but has always raced for France.

“After 86 years of trying we are actually legitimate,” former U.S. coach and Johnny’s old coach and good friend Tom Steitz said. “How do you boil up 86 years of frustration? You don’t. Everybody starts crying. We are all going to sit around tonight and drink champagne and touch the medals.”

Could this be a turning point for the sport? Will Spillane’s silver bring a new awareness that makes it the thing all the cool kids are doing?

It’s not like after-school soccer,” Steitz said, “but we will pick up more kids for sure.”

Check out Johnny’s US Ski Team Page or  MSNBC on his 2010 Silver Medal win.

Dec 2010: The Steamboat Pilot & Today reported on the Steamboat Springs Olympic Trials.

Johnny's family, left to right Sam (brother) Nancy (Mom) Hillary (Johnny's wife) and Jim Spillane (Johnny's Dad) Happy at the 2010 Games

S

Spillane overcame a 9-second deficit after the jumping portion of Wednesday’s trial en route to claiming victory in front of one of the largest hometown crowds since Steamboat Springs hosted its last World Cup in 2002.

Nordic combined is an Olympic event based on two Nordic disciplines — ski jumping and cross-country skiing. The jumping portion comes first, and each athlete’s jump score is used to seed the cross-country race. The jump winner is always the first skier out in the cross-country race.”

More about Johnny’s on USA Today – About Winning the Olympic Trials in Steamboat

Check out Johnny’s ski jumping style here, Oberhof World Championship, 2010.