February 22, 2025

4:30 pm

Norfolk Library, 9 Greenwoods Road East, Norfolk

The Jump Chronicles How a Small Town and Its Local Hero Saved Ski Jumping Tradition

The Jump unveils the heart-warming tale of a remote Connecticut town’s improbable campaign to preserve its cherished ski jumping tradition in the first decade of the 21st century, helped by a local hero named Roy Sherwood who triumphed over polio to compete in the 1956 Winter Olympics.

The story unfolds in Salisbury, Connecticut, a cozy, snow-globe community of 4,000 nestled between New York and Massachusetts where the Appalachian Trail crosses. In the 1920s, Norwegian immigrants arrived, bringing with them a passion for ski jumping and other Nordic sports that quickly caught on in the region. In the 21st century, however, a decaying jump cobbled together decades earlier with telephone poles and lumber in the 1950s threatened to end a tradition that had evolved from flying off a simple hill ramp into a spectacle that drew thousands to the town to marvel at ski jumpers such as Sherwood soar on skis overhead.

An all-volunteer group named the Salisbury Winter Sports Association owned the jump and faced a critical decision when offered a chance to host a national championship contingent upon quickly replacing the tower: erect a new one at a cost of three quarters of a million dollars it didn’t have or reluctantly end the tradition of ski jumping that served as the town’s welcoming front porch for decades.

When the beloved Sherwood, a high school dropout who faced improbable odds of his own success decades earlier, declared unwavering support for a new jump during a community meeting, townspeople cheered. They would try and raise the money to fund construction.

The one-hour documentary showcases rare archival footage, photographs and interviews with local residents and Roy Sherwood about his life, career in ski jumping and support to keep the town’s tradition going. Sherwood was interviewed for the documentary in 2012, five years before he died at 85.

The Jump is produced, written and directed by Rich Hanley, whose documentaries include Remember When, The Flood of ‘55, The 1964 World’s Fair, UCONN Men’s Basketball: An Illustrated History, and Last Days of the Coliseum, among others. Brian Smith narrates.

Rich Hanley is a Professor Emeritus of Journalism at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. A graduate of the University of New Haven ’78 and Wesleyan University ‘93, Hanley served as a journalist for local, national and global media for 23 years in print, television and online before joining Quinnipiac as tenured professor in 2001. He has produced, written and directed several Emmy-nominated documentaries for CPTV and PBS.  Hanley oversaw graduate programs in journalism and interactive media for many years in addition to his teaching. He founded the university’s sports journalism graduate program in 2014. Hanley continues to teach the popular Story of Football class and other classes at Quinnipiac.

In 2007, Hanley received the Charter Oak Society Distinguished Faculty Member Award from Quinnipiac, and in 2017 he became the first-ever Frank H. Netter School of Medicine Outstanding Capstone Mentor for his work with a medical student in developing studies and training programs for youth hockey coaches to spot concussion symptoms in their players. In 2023,  Hanley received the Neilson Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is frequently interviewed by news media on the intersection of politics and technology, appearing in media outlets ranging from the New York Times to Variety to offer insights into the origins and distribution of disinformation through social media among other topics of vital interest to journalism.