2010 Ski Hall of Fame

John Dendahl was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1938. He attended public schools in Santa Fe and graduated from Santa Fe High School in 1956. John went on to get his engineering and business degrees from the University of Colorado in Boulder where he was CU’s Outstanding Senior Athlete in 1960 and a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. While at CU, John led the CU ski team to two National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships, won three individual NCAA titles, and competed in the 1960 Winter Olympics as a member of the United States national team. During his college years, John had summer jobs at Eberline Instrument Corporation, a leading designer and manufacturer of radiation monitoring instruments and systems used in the fuel cycle for nuclear-electric power plants, national defense, and other applications of radioisotopes in addition to consulting services. After graduation, John became an Eberline engineer. Dendahl left Eberline in 1964 to become chief financial officer at the new Santa Fe campus of Annapolis, Maryland’s St. John’s College. Before returning to Eberline, he spent two years in Colorado Springs working on real estate planning as vice president of the Golden Cycle Corporation. In 1967, John rejoined Eberline as its chief financial and administrative officer, later becoming its CEO and, in 1981, a vice president of Thermo Electron which had acquired Eberline. In 1983, Dendahl became president of the First National Bank of Santa Fe which was in the midst of problems stemming from the S&L crisis. He led the bank out of special supervision in just a year. From 1988 to 1990, John served in the administration of Governor Garrey Carruthers as New Mexico’s Secretary of Economic Development and Tourism. John has served on the boards of directors of numerous charitable organizations such as the Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe Preparatory School and St. John’s College. He was chairman of the NM Republican Party from 1994 to 2003 and ran as a candidate for governor in 2006. Also in 2006, the 1959 NCAA Champion Ski Team of which John was a leading member under coach Bob Beattie, was inducted into the CU Athletic Hall of Fame. Over the years, John was always a big supporter of New Mexico skiing. John passed away in 2013.