DENVER - University of Denver 2012 Willy Schaeffler Scholarship recipient Jamie Stanton (Oakland Township, Mich.) has been nominated by the United States Olympic Committee for Male Olympic/Paralympic Athlete of the Month for the month of January. Stanton recently won three medals--two silvers and one bronze--in the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup men's standing slalom competition. To vote for Jamie to win this award, click here. Voting ends on Sunday, February 7th.

The Willy Schaeffler Scholarship Fund at the University of Denver began in late 1986 as a movement to honor the late, Denver, Olympic and U.S. Ski Team coach Willy Schaeffler.

Willy, often called "America's Most Successful Ski Coach," coached the DU Pioneer Ski Team to 13 NCAA Ski Championship titles from 1951-73, an NCAA record that still stands. He was the director of skiing events for the VIII Winter Olympic Games in 1960. Schaeffler also served as Alpine Director for the 1972 U.S. Olympic Ski Team during the Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, where his women's skiers won gold and bronze medals. Willy organized the first-ever amputee ski program, which started in 1968 at the Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, as a joint effort between the Denver Children's Hospital and the U.S. Army's Fitzsimmons Medical Center for its military amputees and other patients returning from wounds suffered in the Vietnam War.

The purpose of the WSSF is twofold. First, it endeavors to assist a disabled scholar-athlete, preferably a competitive skier, in his or her efforts to study at the University of Denver and abroad. Second, it is meant to recognize and honor Willy Schaeffler's many years of profound dedication and contributions to people in the world of sport, and to carry on Willy's exemplary tradition, including a foremost dedication to academic performance.

Stanton, whose right leg was amputated when he was six months old, received this scholarship four years ago and began his studies at DU in the fall of 2012. Before coming to Denver, he competed on the Rochester Adams High School golf and ski teams, serving as captain for both teams as a junior and senior. Stanton won the Michigan Adaptive Sports Skiing State Championship in both 2011 and 2012. He also finished fourth at the 2012 Michigan High School Sports Association Skiing State Championship Qualifier, but he bypassed the State Championship in order to compete in the national Huntsman Cup in Park City, Utah, where he won both slalom and giant slalom to claim the overall championship.

The time and resources provided at DU over the past few years has allowed Stanton's skiing to thrive and his athletic career has skyrocketed. To read more about Jamie's recent success with the U.S. Paralympic alpine ski team, click here.

To make a donation to the University of Denver's Willy Schaeffler Scholarship Fund, visit our website. Once on that site, the donor can select the Willy Schaeffler Scholarship Fund from the various areas to support. During these times of tighter budgets and fewer investment funds, a donation to The Willy Schaeffler Scholarship Fund significantly supplements the endowment fund, and thus is particularly helpful for the current funding of our WSSF recipient. The donor can also donate by sending a check to the Athletics Development Office, Mail Stop Code 3200, University of Denver Athletics and Recreation, 2201 E. Asbury Avenue, Denver, CO 80210-9714, noting Willy Schaeffler Scholarship Fund on the check, or by calling Vice Chancellor for External Affairs, Ryan Peck, at (303) 871-2785, for more information.