Edward L. Scott

Ed Scott, born in 1917, received his first pair of skis in 1924, made for him by his father based on a plan in The Boy Mechanic magazine. Forty years later, Scott’s company was selling 100,000 pairs of the revolutionary Scott Ski Poles each season. He began a new movement in design when he switched out the industry standard (bamboo and steel) for the more durable aluminum ski pole. The remarkable success story of Ed Scott, started in 1949 by a ski repair business in a one-room cabin at Ketchum, Idaho, is attributed to his innovation and his penchant for “something different, something better.”

With the repair business less than robust, he added retail items to the fare. Unable to find ski poles to his liking, he bought components and assembled a “lighter, better pole.” He shipped the first production of the “gold poles” to the United States and Canadian National Ski Teams in 1959 and offered the items wholesale the following season. Five years later, sales surpassed $1 million annually. Ed sold his company to the Kingsford Company with Ed continuing to manage the subsidiary, Scott-USA, which thrives today as Scott Sports USA, and ranks among the nation’s top sports equipment manufacturers.