The 1932 Summer Games were headed to Los Angeles, but Godfrey Dewey – whose father had founded the Lake Placid Club – out-foxed a half-dozen other candidates (including Denver; Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota; Yosemite and Lake Tahoe, California; and Bear Mountain, New York). Then-Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt pledged to build a bobsled run and Dewey, who had finagled a posting as manager of the 1928 Olympic Ski Team, parlayed those contacts to land the ’32 Winter Olympics for the small Adirondacks village. Some 300 athletes from 17 nations competed. Skiing was still a Nordic show; top US skier was another jumper, Casper Oimoen, who finished fifth.