LAKE PLACID — A USA Luge pioneer, racer, coach and founding member of the International Luge Federation has died.
Retired Sgt. Major Volley H. “Bob” Cole was a team member and coach with the U.S. national and Olympic teams and an International Luge Federation, or FIL, official from 1957 to 1972, including stints at three Olympic Games. He represented the U.S. at the 1957 World Championships, the first such event under the banner of the FIL.
Cole was instrumental in the sport’s break from the International Bobsleigh and Toboggan Federation and helped establish the FIL in 1957. At the first luge world championships that year, Cole was on the first American team to ever compete in the event. He continued to compete in Europe at the top luge events of that era.
Cole’s interest in sliding sports actually started in bobsledding as a youth. In 1960, Cole was asked by the U.S. military to organize an American luge program abroad, as there were no U.S. facilities at the time. He spent many years in Germany putting the U.S. team together and recruiting athletes who were stationed in Germany and had experience in winter sports. Those early teams trained with Poland, Germany and Austria in the years leading up to the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria when luge made its Olympic debut.
Bob continued as the team’s Olympic advisor in 1968 and was an FIL official in 1972. After the Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, Cole remained as a coach and Olympic officer, traveling the world for international meetings each year. Volley was an FIL vice president for two terms, and in 1990, became an honorary member of the organization.
“Luge made me a better person and a better father,” Cole said in the Nov. 2011 issue of the FIL Magazine. “It helped me to mature and to grow. Sports are important to build character and develop self-esteem. I think it is essential for young parents to involve their children in sports. It keeps them out of trouble and if they start young they will continue until they are adults and will excel in life.”
After completely retiring, Cole and his wife, Mary, spent 30 years in the Phoenix area where he enjoyed rounds of golf with his many friends.
“Volley was a legend in USA Luge circles,” said Gordy Sheer, USA Luge director of marketing and sponsorships and a 1998 Olympic silver medalist. “I was lucky enough to talk with him over the years. Always great to hear his stories of the early days of sliding domestically and internationally. He really was the main organizer of all things USA Luge through 1972. He was a pioneer and will be missed.”
Cole was born in Richland, Arkansas. He joined the U.S. Army when he was 14 years old and was 90 years of age on May 12, at the time of his death in Arizona.
Cole served in the Korean and Vietnam wars, retiring after 30 years as a highly-decorated sergeant major. Upon leaving the military, he joined the civilian workforce as a contractor for McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Corporation in Saudi Arabia, where he worked for 10 years.
Volley is survived by Mary, to whom he was married for 48 years. He also leaves behind his sister, a lengthy list of children, grandchildren, great grand-children and step-children.
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