Robert Prime Beattie^[1] (/biːˈættiː/ bee-AT-tee;^[2] January 24, 1933 – April 1, 2018) was an American skiing coach, skiing promoter and commentator for ABC Sports and ESPN. He was head coach of the U.S. Ski Team from 1961 to 1969^[3] and co-founded the Alpine Skiing World Cup in 1966. His work as a ski-racing commentator for ABC included four Winter Olympic Games, from 1976 through 1988.

Beattie was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, on January 24, 1933,^[3][4] to Robert Archibald Beattie (1904–1975), a sales manager for a roofing company,^[5] and Katherine Simpson (née Prime; 1906–1995), a homemaker.^[6][2] He had a younger brother, John M.^[6] He graduated from Manchester Central High School in 1950.^[6][7] He attended Middlebury College in Vermont, where he participated in several sports, including football, tennis, cross country, and skiing.^[3][5] After graduating in 1955 with a degree in education, he remained at Middlebury as an assistant coach.^[3]

In 1956, Beattie was named acting coach of the school's ski team after coach Bobo Sheehan left to coach the alpine skiers on the 1956 U.S. Olympic Team.^[3] In 1957, Beattie became the head skiing coach for the University of Colorado in Boulder, and during his tenure the team won the NCAA national titles in 1959 and 1960.^[8][3] In 1961, the U.S. Ski Association named Beattie the U.S. Ski Team's head alpine coach.^[9][10] He continued to work concurrently for the university until 1965.^[9][11][12]

During his coaching years, Beattie was known as a demanding coach,^[13] driving his athletes hard.^[3][14][5] At the 1964 Winter Olympics in Austria, the Beattie-coached U.S. team won two medals, both in the men's slalom: a silver earned by Billy Kidd and a bronze by Jimmie Heuga.^[14] They were the country's first-ever Olympic medals in men's skiing.^[3][14] During the 1968 Winter Olympics in France, the U.S. Ski Team won no medals, and Beattie was criticized for his tough coaching style.^[5][15][16] He stepped down as the U.S. Ski Team's coach in April 1969.^[5][17][18]

In 1966, Beattie co-founded the World Cup for alpine skiing.^[14] After stepping down as U.S. team coach in 1969,^[19] he founded the World Pro Ski Tour in 1970 and worked in promoting it,^[20] and became a NASTAR commissioner in 1970.^[14] ABC Sports hired him as a ski-racing commentator, where he was frequently paired with Frank Gifford, a former NFL running back. Beattie's television work included alpine commentary during ABC's coverage of four Winter Olympics in 1976, 1980, 1984,^[3] and 1988,^[21] and also covered volleyball at the 1984 Summer Olympics.^[22] He later worked as ABC's winter sports correspondent, which also involved non-alpine sports,^[23] and occasionally worked as an announcer for non-winter sports on ABC's Wide World of Sports program.^[24]

Beattie continued to manage the World Pro Ski Tour until 1982,^[14] and started hosting ESPN skiing programs in 1985.^[24]

He authored or co-authored three books,^[9] including My Ten Secrets of Skiing (Viking Press, NY; 1968)^[25] and Bob Beattie's Learn to Ski (Bantam Books, 1967).^[26]

He also played the announcer for the arm wrestling championship in the 1987 movie Over the Top.^{[citation needed]}

Beattie was given the AT&T Skiing Award in 1983.^[27] He was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1984.^[8] He was inducted into the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 1986.^[9] He was the 1997 recipient of the International Ski Federation's Journalist Award.^[28]

Beattie had two children, Zeno and Susan, from his first marriage to Ann Dwinnell.^[4][2] His second marriage was to Olympic skier Kiki Cutter^[29][30] and lasted from 1971 to 1973.^[5] He married a third time in 1980, to Cheryl Britton, a manager of a local secondhand clothing store,^[5] and that marriage lasted until 1987.^{[citation needed]} He was married to Marci Rose Beattie (née Cohen)^[31] until his death in 2018.^[2]

Beattie died on April 1, 2018, in Fruita, Colorado, from a long illness at the age of 85.^[32][4][2]