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Monday, November 13, 2006NOTE: This article was written in the Autumn of 2005, prior to the 2006 Torino Olympics.Fate, if you believe in it, travels in mysterious ways. And sometimes spontaneity pays off, as it did in the case of Eric Bernotas.Chances are, you've never heard of this young man. But he is 33 years of age and is someone who is on the verge of an Olympic berth in a sport that travels in speeds that rival a downhill racer. Looking for some quality thrills? Forget about horror movies and cheap rip offs because all one needs is a sled, a lot of ice and the will to stomach great speeds and no turning back. A crucial mistake and one could turn into a cruise missle. The sport we're talking about is skeleton. Just think of luge backwards. Instead of lying feet-first, the athlete lies down headfirst and takes everything, literally, head on. And this past winter season, a dream came true for Eric Bernotas. From the hills and suburbs of eastern Pennsylvania, Bernotas found himself in the hills of West Virginia where Bernotas received his degree in 1994 as a graduate of West Virginia University. TO LAKE PLACID
Several years ago while traveling to Vermont, a girlfirend Eric was traveling with took a wrong turn and they ended up on the I-87 Northway, in eastern New York. That's the same roadway that leads to route 73, where there sits an exit sign for Lake Placid, home of the 1932 and 1980 Olympics and many dreams accomplished, including USA hockey's Miracle on Ice. Through Eric's friend and the enthusiasm fueled by her father's stories of Lake Placid, they decided to take route 73 and head on up to the North Country where fate awaited one of them. "She pushed me to do it," Eric said of his one-time girlfriend. "She knew I would enjoy it...I wanted to see where it would take me." Mt. Van Hoevenberg, which is just outside the village, is home to luge, skeleton and bobsled events, as well as the sports of biathlon and cross-country. And that is where the wondering pair, as Eric put it, "just happened to go." What he really found was an opportunity to bring out the potential in him that he's wanted all his life. "It's a tremendous opportunity and to follow something and find a way to do it," Eric said. "I didn't want to waste that." Eric described himself as a late bloomer. Growing up he said he was fortunate, as far as sports were concerned, to try everything. "I never found anything I wanted to stick with, not until later did I find something I lied to stick with." That something, of all things, turned out to be the skeleton sled. "I'm not surprised he's done well, I'm surprised in the sport he's in," Eric's father Al, said. The former casino sales representative for Donal Trump, Al was Eric's baseball coach all through his youth. While at Malvern Prep, Eric competed in the very competitive Interac League in eastern Pennsylvania.
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