Jean Saubert (May 1, 1942 – May 14, 2007) made the US ski team and won an Olympic medal, all before graduating from Oregon State University.
Saubert had a busy childhood, moving from Roseburg to outside of Sweet Home, following her father's job as a forest ranger. She learned to ski and then race at Hoodoo Butte, Mount Hood and Mount Bachelor then moved to Lakeview for her senior year of high school, graduating in 1960. In one year as a Honker, Saubert was class secretary, part of the honor society, winner of the school's "Personality cup" and, of course, part of the ski team, which trained at Warner Canyon ski area.
Even while in high school, Saubert was tearing up the slopes, winning multiple national junior titles. That drew the attention of US Skiing and Jean was invited to training programs at Mammoth Mountain in California. She became part of team USA in 1962, placing sixth in the Giant Slalom at the World Championships in Chamonix, France. The following two years, she won national titles in the downhill and giant slalom and also won the slalom in 1964 while also attending Oregon State.
1964 was a breakout year for US skiing in general. Saubert played her part, sweeping the national championships in downhill, slalom, giant slalom and combined. Then at the Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria, Saubert, won the silver in the giant slalom and a bronze in the slalom, two of the six US medals on the ski hill.
In 1966, Saubert earned a degree from Oregon State in education and then earned a master’s degree at Brigham Young University. She returned to Oregon and taught in the Hillsboro School District for 22 years. She also served on several committees of US Skiing.
Jean Saubert was inducted into the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame in 1976 and the Oregon State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1983. She was chosen to be a torchbearer at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.