Anton "Toni" Matt (November 21, 1919 – May 17, 1989) was an Austrian-American ski pioneer, champion racer, and veteran of the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division. Biography Matt was born in St. Anton, Austria, in 1919. He came to North Conway, New Hampshire, in 1938 after becoming Junior National Champion in the Austrian Alps. He was a protegé of Hannes Schneider, who became known as "The Father of Alpine Ski Technique". Skiers trained by Schneider quickly spread across the United States, developing the nascent ski industry in the years following World War II. Matt's most renowned feat came on April 16, 1939, when in the Third "American Inferno", a top-to-bottom race of Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, he "schussed" (skied straight downhill without turning) the steep and infamous Headwall. His time for the race was 6 minutes 29.2 seconds, with an estimated top speed of over , cutting the existing course record in half. Matt was the U.S. Downhill Champion in 1939 and 1941, winning 30 downhill races nationally. During World War II, he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army's 87th Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, where he was part of the August 1943 Aleutian Islands Kiska Invasion Force of 34,000+ Canadian and American troops. This unit was the only major U.S. force specifically trained for mountain warfare. By his service, Matt became a U.S. citizen. Matt coached the U.S. Men's ski team in 1949–1950. He retired from ski racing in 1951 following a fractured leg. He recovered and went on to direct ski schools at Big Mountain (which he also founded) in Whitefish, Montana; Catamount Ski Area in Egremont, Massachusetts; and Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid, New York, where he was a race official for the 1980 Winter Olympic alpine events. Herbert Schneider, the son of Hannes Schneider and Matt's lifelong friend and fellow Austrian, said that Matt was "an especially gifted ski instructor." Lowell Thomas, famous broadcaster, family friend, and ski enthusiast, called Matt "The Babe Ruth of Skiing". Matt was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1967. He died on May 17, 1989, in Pawling, New York, where he lived with his wife Stella and raised their family of five children. A family-loaned collection of Toni Matt's memorabilia – including the 1939 Inferno Cup and other trophies, photos, video, and audio – can be experienced at the New England Ski Museum