Erich Sailer - Hall of Fame ski coach

Erich Sailer, an influential Austrian-born coach for Minnesota’s Buck Hill ski team, died on August 20, 2025. He was 99.

Sailer moved to the United States from Austria in 1956 and went on to become one of the most influential coaches of his era. In 1960, he took over the Buck Hill ski team in Burnsville, Minnesota. A modest Midwest ski area, Buck Hill became one of the nation’s premier training grounds for slalom racers under his guidance. To ease year-round training and travel costs for young U.S. racers, Sailer pioneered summer training camps in the 1950s on Mount Hood, Oregon, and Red Lodge, Montana.

Sailer’s coaching philosophy combined rigorous technique training with a conspicuous enthusiasm for racing. Sometimes called the “Yoda of ski coaching,” Sailer helped start the U.S. Ski Coaches Ski Association. Over his career, he coached and mentored many athletes, including Olympians Lindsey Vonn, Kristina Koznick, Julia Mancuso and Sarah Schleper.

In 1998, Sailer was the first to be honored as the United States Ski Association Development Coach of the Year and also was named the U.S. Olympic Committee Ski Coach of the Year. In 2004, he was presented with USSA’s Tom Reynolds Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sailer was elected to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2005.