Between 1982 and 2016, the Pete Lane Memorial Cup was awarded to the Fastest U16 Male at the Roy Hobson Memorial Race.

Pete Lane (1920-1980) was one of the strongest links between Ketchum’s early days as the nation’s sheep capital and its present-day status as a world-renowned ski area. He was born John Crandall Lane on March 15, 1920 to Adeline and Jack Lane. The elder Lanes were part of the massive sheep industry which supported the Wood River Valley during the early 1900s.

Jack Lane’s store, located at the central intersection of Ketchum’s Main Street (the current Starbucks location), was the social and economic headquarters of the area. Pete Lane grew up in that store, attending grade school in Ketchum and high school in Twin Falls, where his parents spent part of their winters.

He studied at the University of Idaho and eventually graduated from UCLA in 1941. Two years later Pete earned his masters from the Harvard School of Business Administration in 1943, then went overseas during World War II for a stint with the Army Quartermaster Corps. After the war, Pete came home to Ketchum and took over operation of the ski shop that his father had opened to serve the fledgling ski tourist industry in Sun Valley in 1937.

Working with designers and manufacturers, Pete was instrumental in bringing about many improvements in ski boots, skis and ski apparel. The store on the Sun Valley Mall that bears his name, called Pete Lane’s, became one of the best known and most respected in the industry.

Pete’s skills with a stopwatch as a timer for Sun Valley Ski Club races led to a position in the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, where he provided hand-timing that closely matched the results of the electrical timers coming into use.

While working as a race organizer, Pete devised the idea of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, which ultimately came to fruition out of the Sun Valley Ski Club in April 1966.

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

Source: Idaho Mountain Express