Bruce P. Colon

Bruce was born in Athol, Massachusetts to Katherine P. and Percy “Bill” Colon on Aug. 17, 1940, the youngest of three children. After graduating from Athol High School in 1958, Bruce attended Paul Smiths College where he was a vital member of the ski team. He graduated with an associate degree in forestry in 1960. He served in the U.S. Army from 1962 to 1964 and then earned his bachelor of science from the University of New Hampshire in 1967.

Bruce returned to the Adirondacks in 1967 to teach and coach football, golf and alpine skiing at Saranac Lake High School. From 1968 to 1977, Bruce held the position of assistant headmaster at Northwood School in Lake Placid, where he led the history department and coached baseball, golf, football and alpine skiing. By his second year at Northwood, he had led the football team to an undefeated season, and two members of his ski team were selected for the U.S. National Junior Team. He also played a key role in transitioning Northwood School to a co-educational institution and establishing its women’s sports programs. Bruce was an influential volunteer in championing Lake Placid community youth sports as a Little League baseball coach, area golf instructor, and Lake Placid Sports Council member. In 1977, Bruce was appointed Women’s Alpine Director for the 1980 Olympic Winter Games.

One of Bruce’s lasting legacies is as a founder of the New York Ski Educational Foundation (NYSEF). Since its inception in 1973, the Whiteface Alpine Training Center, later renamed NYSEF, has become a nationally recognized program that has trained thousands of youth in alpine, nordic, freestyle and snowboard programs over the past 50-plus years. In 2018, Bruce was an inaugural inductee into the NYSEF Hall of Fame. Following his tenure at Northwood School, Bruce established and served as the first headmaster of Carrabassett Valley Academy in Maine and later headed alpine ski programs at Mt. Bachelor in Oregon, Mt. Alyeska in Alaska, and Aspen, Snowmass and Crested Butte in Colorado. Dozens of Coach Colon’s athletes went on to compete and/or coach at national, international and Olympic levels. In 2003, Bruce was honored with U.S. Ski and Snowboard Chairman’s Special Recognition “Tom Reynolds Award for Lifetime Achievement in Coaching.”

Upon retirement, Bruce returned to Lake Placid where he pursued his passion for golf, perfected his craft of custom bamboo fly rod building and relished spending time with his children and grandchildren. Bruce is survived by his four children, Laurie (Johnny) Woods of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Clarke (Elizabeth) Colon of Waterbury, Vermont, Lisa (Shawn) Holes of Boise, Idaho, and Eric Colon of Silt, Colorado; eight grandchildren, Eliza (Kent) True, William Holes, Logan Holes, Mazie Holes, Heath Colon, Davis Colon, Levi Colon and Claire Colon; four great-grandchildren; his friend and former wife, Nancy Colon of Lake Placid; and his girlfriend of 20 years, Carol Nevulis of Lake Placid. He also leaves behind numerous nieces and nephews and countless former students and athletes whose lives he positively impacted. He was preceded in death by both his parents, brother Frazier P. Colon, and sister Joan E. Duncan.

A celebration of life will take place later this summer. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: NYSEF, P.O. Box 300, Wilmington, NY, 12997 or nysef.org.

The M. B. Clark, Inc., Funeral Home in Lake Placid is overseeing arrangements. Please visit www.mbclarkfuneralhome.com to share a memory or leave condolences.