John T. Olinski '78 was and still is known not only as a great athlete, but as someone who is a natural leader. His athletic achievements are impressive, but his ability to be a total team player is another achievement in itself. A quote taken from a letter written by John sums up the type of person he really is: “I was very fortunate to have discovered that shaving a tenth of a second or scoring another goal paled in comparison to watching a teammate excel after teaching him a new technique or skill.”
In 1979, John graduated from Lyndon State College with a bachelor’s degree in Ski Resort Management and an associate’s degree in Business Administration. However, his degrees came only after he had made his mark on LSC’s Alpine and Nordic Ski team and the lacrosse team.
As captain of the ski team from 1975-1978, John led by example: if the coach was absent, John would organize the team’s practices without any prior instructions. He was named to the first team of the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association in three of his four years at Lyndon, an honor voted on by other coaches in the league. He and his teammates were invited to the Middlebury Winter Carnival each year he was at Lyndon. John was also a member of two EISA League Championship teams.
John’s honors don’t stop there. He served as captain of LSC’s lacrosse team from 1975-1978 and was always one of the top two scorers. He was named MVP two of his four years of playing on the lacrosse team. Teammate, Kappa brother and longtime friend Mathew Miller ’81 says of John: “He was truly a man among boys on the lacrosse team.”
John is still using his training and the motivational skills that he practiced here at LSC on the people he works with every day, either through his work as a food broker/sales account manager for Richardson & Petkovsek Foods or through the many community services and activities in which he is involved.
While he was still a student, John coached the Lyndon Institute alpine ski team. He went on to coach and train many athletes in the sports of skiing, soccer and triathlons. Today, he volunteers as a referee for YMCA youth soccer in his community. He is the Balmoral Village representative to the Lake Linganore Association and serves on several of that organization’s committees. John is also very involved with the Jimmy Huega Ski-a-thon, a fundraiser for MS in his area.
John was a tri-athlete competitor from 1983-1995, and qualified for the USTS National Championship Triathlon. He still continues to stay active and enjoys whitewater kayaking, canoeing and playing intramural volleyball.
Richard Wagner, a former LSC dean of admissions, summed it up when he wrote: “John came to Lyndon skilled in competitive skiing and in the sport of lacrosse. He became a real leader and taught less skilled competitors unselfishly on his own time. The Lyndon ski team in John’s four years here placed fourth, second, then won two championships in his last two years. John, without any doubt, was the force that produced these two championship teams. John brought dedication, energy, enthusiasm and optimism to all that he undertook.”
John and his wife, Carol Baker, live in New Market, Maryland.
