Sevier County — The advent of snowmaking machines in the early 1960s made skiing resorts possible in the Southeast. The machines may have made the snow, but skier Rolf Lanz gets the credit for making skiing a success in Tennessee.
Lanz died Saturday at the age of 88. The alpine skier was born in Switzerland and moved to the United States in the 1950s, eventually settling his family in East Tennessee in the early 1960s.
"He loved Gatlinburg. He loved his mountains. He moved his family up here when we were very young," said daughter Michele Maples. "He became the ski director in Gatlinburg in 1965. Daddy brought a certain European style here."
"What comes to mind is him saying, 'Think snow.' A lot of people learned about skiing because of him," said daughter Monique Lanz.
Rolf Lanz not only knew how to ski. He possessed a contagious enthusiasm and gregarious nature that made people comfortable trying a sport that was new to the area.
"He traveled all throughout the Southeast to promote skiing in Tennessee, because it seemed like such an unlikely place to have a resort," said Rob Melgaard, a ski teacher and supervisor who has worked at Ober Gatlinburg since 1977. "You'd be hard-pressed to find anybody who did not like Rolf. He was very light-hearted, loved to tell a joke, was really generous, and incredibly diplomatic. He did not embarrass people when they made mistakes."
Melgaard said Lanz's playful and patient style put employees and students at ease while learning to have fun with winter sports.
"He was a great teacher and was also very good at identifying other people who can teach. There was a couple from Chattanooga he met on the slopes decades ago. He asked them to instruct and they still come up here on weekends to help with the school," said Melgaard.
Lanz not only helped make snow skiing fashionable in the South. He also sold the latest winter fashions at the Rolf Lanz Ski Shop locations in Gatlinburg and Knoxville. The Knoxville retail site opened in 1970 and was the first store in the city's history devoted entirely to winter sports gear.
"His shops were definitely the premier place to buy the clothing and the equipment," said Melgaard.
Lanz retired in 2000 after 35 years of making snow and making winter sports popular in Gatlinburg. His impact on the area is as clear as the signs at Ober Gatlinburg.
"Daddy came up with the name Ober Gatlinburg when the ownership changed in the 1970s. He really helped the resort grow and designed the slopes there today," said Maples.
After his career in East Tennessee was complete, Lanz and his wife relocated to Clearwater, Florida. When his health declined in recent months, Lanz asked to move back to East Tennessee to spend the remainder of his life with his family and "his mountains."
"He wanted to spend his last days here. I'm so thankful he got to do that. He was able to visit Gatlinburg a couple of times, see old friends, see the mountains, and he was happy," said Maples.
Lanz died Saturday at UT Medical Center. His family received friends at a visitation Thursday in Kodak. A private burial service will be held at a later date.