Kevin Pearce (snowboarder)

Kevin Pearce
Personal information

Birth name	Kevin Pearce
Nationality	American
Born	(1987-11-01) November 1, 1987 Hanover, New Hampshire

Kevin Pearce
Medal record

Competitor for the United States
Men's Snowboarding
Winter X Games
Silver	2008 Aspen	Big Air
Silver	2008 Aspen	Slopestyle
Silver	2009 Aspen	SuperPipe
Bronze	2008 Aspen	SuperPipe

Kevin Pearce (born November 1, 1987) is an American former professional snowboarder. He was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, and raised in Hartland, Vermont before moving with his parents to Norwich, Vermont. He competed professionally from 2007 before an accident in 2009 that left him with traumatic brain injury. He now lives in Carlsbad, California.^[1]

Career

Pearce won The Arctic Challenge in 2007 and completed back-to-back titles with victory in 2008. He was also the first man to earn two Air & Style rings in one season, winning the Nokia Air & Style in Munich in 2007 and the Billabong Air & Style in Innsbruck in 2008.

In the 2007–08 season he won the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour, garnering the TTR World Tour Champion title.

He won three medals at the 2008 Winter X Games XII in Aspen, Colorado. He was also the first athlete in X Games history to compete in three medal events in one day. ^[2]

Pearce is a member of the Frends Crew (spelled without the "i" to emphasize the collective nature of the group) made up of snowboarders Mason Aguirre, Danny Davis, Scotty Lago, Keir Dillon, Mikkel Bang, Jack Mitrani and Luke Mitrani. Frends is a group of riders who turned their initial friendship into a formal alliance in 2007 to move the sport away from its recent competitive and business focus and return the sport to its grassroots, collegial beginnings.^[3]

2009 Injury

On December 31, 2009, Pearce was critically injured during training in Park City, Utah. He struck his head above the left eye halfway down the pipe during a half-pipe training run trying a maneuver called a cab double cork. He was flown to the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City.^[4] On January 26, 2010, Pearce was transferred out of critical care and in early February was moved to Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado, a rehabilitation center that specializes in traumatic brain injuries.^[5] By June, Pearce was back with his family in Vermont.^[6]

In an August 23, 2010 interview, Pearce said he was lucky to recover and "...excited to get back onto a snowboard."^[7] However, in a December 2011 interview with NBC, he said he will not compete again but he did get back on a snowboard later that year.^[8]

Personal life and family

Pearce is a son of noted international glass artist Simon Pearce who has a chain of upscale retail stores in the Northeast United States. His uncle on his mother's side is Cyrus Vance, Jr., the District Attorney of New York County (Manhattan). Kevin Pearce is the youngest of Simon and Pia Pearce's four sons. His brothers David, who has Down syndrome, Andrew and Adam are also snowboarders.

Pearce and a few other pro snowboarders (Mason Aguirre, Jack Mitrani, Danny Davis, Scotty Lago, Mikkel Bang, Luke Mitrani, and Keir Dillon) developed a strong friendship over years of competitions. They began calling themselves the FRENDS crew due to their growing relationships with each other.

Kevin Pearce and The Frends crew have hosted a Signature Session™ at High Cascade Snowboard Camp each summer since 2008. ^[9] At camp Pearce spends time with young snowboarders, helping coach, mentor and inspire.

In Media

The 2013 documentary The Crash Reel by Lucy Walker documents Pearce's preparations for the 2010 Winter Olympics games, the 2009 injury, and his subsequent rehabilitation.^[10]

References