Old Daredevil

Affable Art Tokle has no business even trying a ski jump, let alone winning meets. At 38, Tokle is an old, old man in the young daredevil's sport of taking a flying leap off a mountainside. Yet he is one of the most consistently successful of all U.S. jumpers, has won 17 of his last 19 meets at Bear Mountain, N.Y. Explains Tokle, "I improve with age."

A New Jersey carpenter, Art Tokle belongs to one of skiing's most remarkable families. His father was a Norwegian mining official, who raised every one of his 20 children in the sport, and skied himself until he was well past 70. Torger Tokle, Art's older brother, came to the U.S. in 1939 and gained sudden fame with a hellbent, arm-flailing style that looked atrocious but won him a flock of national meets before he was killed in Italy as a ski trooper in 1945. Kyrre Tokle, another older brother, was still jumping in informal meets in the U.S. at the age of 55. (Last week Kyrre, now 57, lay critically injured in a Burlington, Vt. hospital with a skull fracture sustained while running a ski trail at full throttle.)

Rolling the Barrel. Art Tokle himself tottered onto skis at the age of 18 months, took his first jump at such a tender age that he does not remember it, and won his first meet at seven with a leap of over 60 ft. During the war, the Germans interrupted his career by putting him into the copper mines for 4 1/2 years of forced labor. In 1947 Tokle came to the U.S. and promptly began winning meets. Twice national champion (1951, 1953), Tokle was still good enough three years ago to finish a respectable fourth, jumping against some of Europe's best at a meet in Sweden.

A compact 5 ft. 8 in., 170 lbs., Tokle smokes and drinks ("It hasn't hurt me yet"), credits his longevity as a jumper to his trade: "As a carpenter, I get eight hours of exercise a day." To strengthen his legs and ankles, the tireless Tokle is fond of turning a barrel on its side, hopping on top and running at full tilt while it spins beneath him ("You ought to try it sometime").

Eyes Open. Despite his share of falls, Tokle has yet to experience his first twinge of fear. "Sometimes, when you see a guy take a bad spill right before you go down, it makes you think a little," says he. "But once you start on the run, you forget about it. When you're in the air, you're just like an airplane. You can feel the wind and the air lift you up. You even hit air pockets. One time the wind turned me absolutely upside down and I landed on my back. That was my fault--I'd shut my eyes. If I had kept them open, I might have landed somehow on my skis."

Last week Tokle once again tackled Bear Mountain, where he figures the maximum safe jump is 160 ft. Going all out against two crack Finnish entries, he soared an estimated 162 ft., then swerved sharply and tore a ligament in his right ankle. But even with the patriarch of U.S. ski jumping sidelined for a few weeks, the Tokles are still in the business. Arthur Jr., II, has been jumping since he flew 20 ft. at the age of two, is now competing in junior meets. Says Arthur Sr.: "All he needs is practice."

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