Since 1962, the Billy Kleine Memorial Award was awarded to the fastest U12 Male at the Gary Black, Jr. Memorial Sun Valley Ski Club race. In 2017, the trophy became part of the SVSEF Roy Hobson Memorial Race in 1978. It is now awarded to the fastest U12 Male at the Gary Black, Jr. Memorial Race annually. 

In August of 1961, Billy Kleine sadly passed away in a tragic accident at 10 years old. In honor of him, the Billy Kleine Memorial Award was established the next year. His best friend, Fritz Saviers was the first recipient.  Billy was described by a childhood friend, Vicki as “someone who was always smiling, energetic, and a jokester. He was a fast runner and a good hitter.” He was also good at math, and sometimes a little bored with school, which ended up with some horseplay that would get him into trouble on occasion. His childhood friend, Steve said “his teacher saw this and made us the Business Manager and Editor of the newspaper called the Ketchum Grade School 4th Grade Newsletter, and they sold it to keep him busy”. 

He loved ski racing and baseball and was really great at both. Besides bike riding all over town with his friends, he also enjoyed hiking Knob Hill and playing baseball almost every night after dinner. He and his dad also enjoyed hunting, hiking and fishing.

While his dad travelled and played music with the Larry La Prise Band, Billy stepped up and became the man of the house. He would do chores like mowing, weeding and shoveling snow to help his mom out.

A story told by his sister Janet: “An officer who was in the military observed what kind of person Billy was and told his parents he would sponsor him if he wanted to go to West Point when he was of age.” Billy was highly thought of and an outstanding kid.

Award recipients’ names are engraved on the Billy Kleine Memorial Award, which is displayed in the SVSEF Training Center at Warm Springs.