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William Thayer Tutt

Inducted 1972

HOCKEY, GOLF

The name Thayer Tutt is synonymous with excellence in athletic presentations. Tutt, who served as President of the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, helped to inaugurate the NCAA tournament in 1949, and since that time, more than eleven NCAA tournaments have been held at the World Arena. The Broadmoor hosted the World Hockey Championships in 1962, and the World Arena was also the site for the World Cup tournament featuring the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and the United States.

Tutt has also been instrumental in several world and national championships in figure skating held at the Broadmoor. It was through the Broadmoor Skating Club that Colorado Hall of Famers Peggy Fleming and Hayes and David Jenkins became pre-eminent in world and Olympic skating. Tutt was on both the International and Olympic committees of the United States Figure Skating Association.

The Broadmoor’s golfing events have included the Trans-Mississippi Golf Tournament, the NCAA Championships, the U.S. National Amateur Championships, Curtis Cup matches and the Women’s Western Amateur. Its World Seniors Tournament, begun in 1960, is among the largest of its kind.

The Broadmoor’s Penrose Stadium is home of the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo, one of the biggest rodeos in the nation. Tutt was chairman of the board of the well-known rodeo and is a life member of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.

In hockey, he has been President of the International Ice Hockey Federation, President of the North American Executive Committee of the NHF and Chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1968.

He has also been the chairman of the International Committee of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States, Director of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Vice-President of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States, member of the International Council and North American Executive Committee of the NHF, and a member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Amateur Athletic Union.

He has also been Director of the U.S. Olympic Committee, a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee on Development and a member of the Colorado Olympics Commission. In 1968, he was a member of the U.S. Olympic Luge Committee. He was also Vice-President of the World Senior Golf Association and Director of the Western Golf Association.

In addition to being Chairman of the Board of the Broadmoor, Tutt was also Chairman of the Board for the El Pomar Foundation and the El Pomar Investment Company. He spent his entire business career with the El Pomar and Broadmoor enterprises, with the exception of the years 1937-39, when he was partner to Boettcher and Company, investment bankers of New York, Chicago and Denver.

Tutt’s other directorships include the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway Company, Rio Grande Industries, Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company, Affiliated Bankshares of Colorado, Inc., the First National Bank of Colorado Springs, and the Golden Cycle Corporation. He was President of the Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway Company and the Mt. Manitou Park and Incline Railway Company. Tutt was also President of the Air Force Academy Foundation, Inc., trustee emeritus of the Lovelace Foundation of Albuquerque and Chairman of the Board of Sunnyrest Sanatorium.

For four years during World War II, Tutt served in the Air Force, was awarded the Legion of Merit and was discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Over the years, Tutt has received numerous honors including the Officer dans l’Ordre du Merite Touristique (France), Das Grosse Ehrenzeichen (Austria) and the Gold Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In recognition of his sports achievements, Tutt was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1972, the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, the United States Hockey Hall of Fame and the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada.

Tutt’s wife, Yvonne, was formerly a national figure skating champion twice, U.S. pair champion, North American Figure Skating Champion and competitor in the Olympic games. Tutt and his wife had four children.

William Thayer Tutt

The name Thayer Tutt is synonymous with excellence in athletic presentations.