Skiing alumni and their families honor former coach

As undergrads and fellow members of the UNH men’s alpine ski team, Gordy Hall ’79 and John LoMedico ’80 bonded over the rigorous conditioning sessions mapped out for them by coach Paul Berton. There was a particular 1 kilometer sprint through College Woods that “was like roller derby on track shoes,” LoMedico recalls with a laugh.

LoMedico and Hall both credit Berton’s infectious enthusiasm for UNH skiing and his great ability to bring people together for their continued friendship in the three decades that have passed since their ski team days. To honor their coach, the two men and their families recently collaborated to create the Paul E. Berton Scholarship Fund. Established in 2010, the fund will provide merit-based support to members of the UNH men’s ski team.

Hall says naming the fund in Berton’s honor was an easy decision for him and LoMedico. “Paul’s role in building the ski program at UNH extended well beyond the traditional boundaries of sport,” he says. Adds LoMedico, “He instilled life-long lessons about sportsmanship, discipline, and responsibility that helped shape many UNH student athletes into the people they are today.”

Berton served as coach of the UNH ski team from 1976 to 1990, initially overseeing the alpine, jumping, and Nordic squads and later focusing solely on the alpine teams. After stepping down as coach, Berton’s contributions to the program continued through roles in the Friends of UNH Skiing, the program’s University-based fundraising group, and as chair of the Friends of Ski NH, an organization that has contributed almost $800,000 to the UNH ski squads.

Nordic head coach and ski coordinator Cory Schwartz ’82 attributes much of the team’s current—and considerable— success to Berton. “Paul stabilized the team in the late 1970s and grew the team into a top-10 national contender,” he says.

In his 14-year tenure, Berton coached 12 All-Americans, eight UNH Hall of Famers, seven U.S. Ski Team members, three Olympians, and one national champion.

Having skied for Berton as an undergraduate and later worked beside him as assistant coach, Schwartz is thrilled to have the opportunity to award a scholarship in his mentor’s name. “We are very proud that John and Gordy have chosen to honor Paul in this way, and I look forward to welcoming the first Paul E. Berton student athlete to our program.”

Schwartz sees the new scholarship as a key element of the team’s effort to recruit student athletes who will propel the alpine program into the top five nationally. Hall and LoMedico see the fund as the most fitting way to express their gratitude to the enormous contributions Berton has made to the UNH ski program and the many men and women who have come through it.

Hall says it was at a Homecoming Weekend gathering at the Durham house Berton shares with his wife, Jane, that he realized just how deep and enduring the connections Berton forged among his skiers run. “A huge number of alums were there, representing many different eras,” he says. “It was the first time I realized UNH might not have much of a ski team, certainly not Division I, if it weren’t for Paul.”