At 20, Schaeffler was named to the German Olympic team for 1936, but broke both legs before the IV Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and was unable to compete.
[3] When World War II broke out in 1939, Schaeffler was drafted into the German Army as a "political unsafe," because of a long family history of opposition-politics, and eventually ended up in a penal battalion on the Russian Front.
In late 1957, Sports Illustrated featured Schaeffler and parts of this new technique in a two-issue cover story, titled "Revolution In Skiing.
"[6][7][8] The article featured remarkable pencil drawings by renowned artist and content innovator Robert Riger.
In 1957, Schaeffler became the Director of the Ski Events for the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California, and was responsible for designing the alpine courses.
One of these was the original plan for what is today the Whistler Blackcomb resort, site of the alpine events of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
The first project, in Mineral King, expanded greatly during design, and was eventually planned to host more than a million visitors a year.
The next year, he received the USSA Rocky Mountain Division's highest award, the Halstead Trophy, for outstanding service.
[12] In 1977, he assisted in the formation of the Special Olympics, focused on disabled skiers, along with Arapahoe Basin's Larry and Marnie Jump, Winter Park's Jerry Groswold, and the Kennedy family.
[3][10] At age 74, Schaeffler died at St. Luke's hospital in Denver in April 1988,[2] after enduring five open-heart surgical procedures and a pacemaker implanted over the previous seventeen years.
[10] Established by his son, Jimmy, a permanent set of scholarships focused on the needy, reside at the University of Denver, where today further tribute is paid daily to Schaeffler.
Currently, an additional Willy Schaeffler endowment fund is in its early stages of development, that will support disabled and other recipients' needs, under the aegis of the head ski coach at the University of Denver.