Sports Illustratedb - July 2, 2001

Where is she now?
Suzy Chaffee

Her famous lip balm commercial first aired more than 20 years ago, but Suzy Chaffee's alter ego endures like an Energizer snow bunny. The ebullient blue-eyed blonde from Rutland, VT., burst onto the sporting scene at the Grenoble Olympics in 1968, where as a favorite for a medal in the downhill, she used the wrong wax on her skis and finished 28th.. Nevertheless, her specially designed skintight silver ski suit kept her from becoming a historical footnote. "I still got the second-most publicity after Peggy Flemming," says Chaffee, now 54. "Fashion saved my butt!"

Following the Games, Chaffee stayed in the limelight by becoming a freestyle ski champion, modeling and devoting herself to promoting awareness of Title IX and amateur athletes' rights. She made the memorable Chap Stick commercial in 1978, and "Suzy Chapstick" instantly became part of her identity, launching her as a worldwide celebrity who pulled in roughly $100,000 a year in endorsement income from companies such as Colgate and Dannon. She skied with such notables as President Ford and the Empress of Iran and was romantically linked with Bill Bradly, Ted Kennedy and Grace Kelly's brother Jack, (though she has never married).

The Chap Stick campaign aired until 1980. By the early 1990's Chaffee had stopped pursuing endorsements, and by 1995 she was nearly broke, had no health insurance, and was getting many of her clothes from the "free box" in Telluride, Colo., where she had moved that year. During that time she taught a Lakota Indian named Rollingbear to ski. They fell in love, and he provided the inspiration for her latest project.

In 1996 Chaffe, along with Southern Ute Unity Leader Alden Naranjo, started the Native American Olympic Team Foundation, a nonprofit program that has taught more than 1,000 Native Americans to ski. Resorts kike Aspen and Vail provide ski lessons, lift tickets and equipment to Native Americans in return for ceremonial dancing demonstrations. Says Ross Anderson, 28, who is 1/2 Cheynne-Arapaho and half Mescalaro Apache and is the world's no 2-ranked speed skier, "When I first met her I thought, Cool! That's Suzy Chapstick. It's great to see someone like Suzy reaching out."

Chaffee is also working to have Native Americans honored at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. "I want to give our first Americans the chance to be heroes, like Cathy Freeman was in Sidney, " she says.

Chaffe says the foundation is the greatest thing she's ever done. "As an athlete I was on planet Me, and it was an empty feeling," she says. "I've discovered that giving back is the real Olympic high."