Northwood School’s Olympians
Northwood's first Olympian was John Mulhern in 1952, and he also won the first medal, gaining a silver with the men's US Ice Hockey Team. There have been 21 Northwood Olympians who have produced seven medals - six silver and one bronze. The six silver medals were Men's Hockey: 3 for the United States – Mulhern '53, Tom Mellor '68, Mike Richter '02, and 1 for Canada – Chris Therien'90. Andrea Kilbourne Hill won a silver with the US Women's Ice Hockey Team in '02, and Andrew Weibrecht won a Silver Medal in 2014, Bronze in 2010.
The class of 1990 and 1968 produced the most Olympians. The Class of 1990 had three ice hockey players: Jim Campbell (US) and Chris Therien (Canada) competed in Liliehamer in 1994, and Craig Conroy (US) at Torino in 2006. The class of 1968 had two ski Jumpers: Ulf Kvendbo (Canada), Jay Rand (US) at the 1968 Grenoble games, and Kvendbo and Tom Mellor (US) competing in ice hockey in 1972 at Sapporo, Japan. Interestingly, the senior class of 1990 had 3 Olympians out of a graduating class of 45, while the class of 1968 had three Olympians from a graduating class of 53. Northwood has had an alumnus in 15 straight Olympics – 1964 to 2018. The 2002 Salt Lake Games had the largest contingent of Northwood Alums – 5 at the games, followed by the 2018 PyeongChang games, where four alums were present (Tony Granato participated as a coach).
Brent Rushlaw '70, a Saranac Lake native, competed in the most Olympics – 4 (1976, 1980, 1984, and 1988). While he did not medal, he had a 4th, 5th, and 6th place finish and was considered one of the best drivers in bobsleigh.
Mike Richter '85 competed in three Olympics 1988, 1998, and 2002, winning a silver medal. Andrew Weibrecht is Northwood's most decorated alum, a silver, and a bronze.
Andrea Kilbourne Hill is Northwood's only female Olympian, although both Juli Chu (hockey) and Dorothy Hamel (figure skating) spent time being tutored by a Northwood faculty member.
Joe Lamb and Tony Granato both participated in an Olympics and later coached their sport. Joe Lamb is one of several Lake Placid area natives to compete in an Olympics. Others include Jay Rand, Brent Rushlow, Andrea Kilbourne Hill, and Andrew Weibrecht.
Northwood Alums have competed for the United States (14), Canada (3), Japan (1), Austria (1), Great Britain (1), and South Korea (1).
The 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing is the 16th consecutive Winter Olympics with a Northwood alumnus competing in it. All eyes within the Northwood community will be on Kevin Drury '06 as he competes in the ski cross event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. He finished 4th in the 2018 Winter Games.
Finally, Northwood is incredibly small when you consider it has produced 21 Olympians. To give you perspective the list below has the athlete, their graduation year and the total number of graduates.
- Mulher ’47 – 20
- Orsi ’63 – 32
- Kvendbo, Rand and Mellor ’68 – 53
- Ruslow ’70 – 52
- Lamb ’73 – 39
- Granato ’83 – 50
- Richter ’85 – 40
- Tretowicz ’87 – 47
- Salfi ’90 - 46
- Campbell, Therien & Conroy ’90 – 45
- Vonn ’94 – 45
- Takahashi & Kilbourne Hill ’98 – 43
- McLeish ’97 – 33
- Weibrecht ’03 – 53
- Testuide ’05 – 53
- Drury ’06 – 54
Learn more about each Olympian at the following Northwood Mirror article.