After his father died of the Spanish flu in 1918, his mother and brothers moved the short distance to small town Steinberg.
At age 18, Sverre and older brother Alf (age 20) emigrated to the United States in 1929, first settling in Chicago, then relocating to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1931.
Their widowed mother Martha and younger brother Corey (age 17) emigrated in 1933, joining Alf and Sverre in Utah.
Among his credits is that of being coach of the University of Utah ski team when it won its first national collegiate championship in 1947.
[7] The Engen brothers helped to popularize skiing in the West, primarily in Utah and Idaho.