Penelope Theresa 'Penny' Pitou is a former United States Olympic alpine skier, who in 1960 became the first American skier to win a medal in the Olympic downhill event. In 2001, Pitou was inducted into the New England Women's Sports Hall of Fame. Penny Pitou moved with her family from New York to Center Harbor, New Hampshire at the age of three. There she began skiing on a hill in her backyard, later progressing to the nearby Gilford Outing Club and Belknap Mountain ski areas. By the age of 15 Penny and her family moved to Laconia, New Hampshire, where she graduated from Laconia High School in 1956. As a freshman at Laconia High in 1953, she ignored the no-girls-rule and tried out for the boys' ski team. "I hid my hair under my hat and asked my friends to call me Tommy," she said. "I made the team and everything went great until I competed in a downhill race at New Hampton School. I crashed in front of a gate-keeper, my hat flew off and my hair came down. It's one of the few times in my life that I was at a loss for words." Her ski career continued apace however, and at the age of seventeen she was first selected for the U.S. Olympics Ski Team. 

October 8th, 1938 in Queens (Age 86)