May 10, 2013 – In this edition of Talkin’ with the Gravy Train, famous sports commentator and journalist Peter Graves chats with Dave Knoop, the Director of the National Nordic Foundation (NNF), for an inside look at the history of the organization and how it is able to provide over $150,000 to support Nordic skiing. Knoop speaks about the mission of the NNF, the all-important pillar projects, the Nordic community and the future in general – here is Part 1.

Knoop is passionate about the sport of cross-country skiing. A dedicated runner, he got into the sport in his early-to-mid 30s while raising a young family and building a successful insurance career. He saw it as a great family activity and a healthy lifestyle.

By his early 50s, with many of his professional career goals accomplished and his family grown, he thought about how to give back to the sport he’d grown to love and help the next generations of skiers. Spending time at numerous USSA/USST meetings he got a better understanding of some of the many challenges that developing skiers face. He also raced at many Euro Loppet and Worldloppet races to appreciate what it is like to race as an outsider in foreign lands with little support.

Knoop decided that his best contribution to the sport would be to lend his business/marketing experience in a way that would help the U.S. Nordic community help themselves. Coincidently he was informed that the NCCSEF (National Cross Country Ski Education Foundation) had just gone dormant after many years of success under it’s founder Reid Lutter.

Hence NCCSEF was reborn which morphed into the NNF changing the name and bringing Nordic Combined into the NNF family as well. Both Lutter and Knoop have run this non-profit organization as unpaid volunteers.

Knoop travels frequently to many ski communities across the U.S. to participate in races, as well as to meet local leaders in the ski community, to understand their role in the development pipeline and the sport in general.

Interview w/David Knoop