+ Amateur Achievements

1972 Shirley Jensen Memorial Gelande – Snowbasin, Utah - 1st Place

1972 Junior Gelande Champion – Alta, Utah

1972 Intermountain Amateur Freestyle Champion

1972 Intermountain Freestyle Champion - Park West, Utah (1st Place Moguls, 1st Place Aerials, 1st Place Combined)

+ Professional Achievements

1974 PFA World Aerial Champion

1974 Eastern National Freestyle Champion - Waterville Valley, New Hampshire (1st Combined, 2nd Aerials, 2nd Moguls)

1974 World Super Hot Dog Championship / Beconta Cup – Park City, UT (Largest cash purse in Skiing History) (1st Combined, 2nd Aerials, 2nd Moguls)

1974 Western National Freestyle Championships - Sun Valley, Idaho (1st Place Combined)

1974 World Championships - Heavenly Valley, California (1st Place Aerials, 2nd Place Combined)

1974 Ski Magazine's Hot Dogger of the Year - Grand Prix Champion

1974 Midas U.S. Freestyle Open - Aspen Highlands, Colorado (1st Place Combined, 3rd Place Aerials)

1975 Midas Ski America National Championships - Stowe, Vermont (3rd Place Aerials)

1975 Midas Freestyle Championships - Park West, Utah ( 2nd Place Combined)

1976 Colgate Freestyle Championships - Snowbird, Utah (2nd Place Combined)

1977 Professional Freestyle Championships – Heavenly Valley, Lake Tahoe, California (1st Place Combined, winning with a double front somersault!)

1977 Saint Moritz Challenge - Saint Moritz, Switzerland (3rd Place Moguls)

1977 Mount Saint Anne Challenge - Mount Saint Anne, Quebec, Canada / 30,000 Spectators (2nd Place Aerials, 3rd Place Combined)

1977 Montreal Challenge - Toronto, Canada (3rd Place Combined)

1978 Midas International Freestyle Challenge (2nd Moguls & MVP Award)

1979 JC World Ski Enduro – Kirkwood Meadows, California (Champion - Moguls, Jumps, and Race Course: 21 runs)

1980 JC World Ski Enduro - Kirkwood Meadows, California (Champion - Moguls, Jumps, and Race Course: 21 runs)

+ Professional Achievements (continued)

1994 Legends of Freestyle – Sunday River, Maine (2nd Place Bumps)

1997 Legends of Freestyle - Sunday, River Maine (3rd Place Moguls)

1998 Wayne Wong World Championships of Hot Dog Skiing (1st Place)

1999 Wayne Wong World Championships of Hot Dog Skiing (3rd Place)

2000 Wayne Wong World Championships of Hot Dog Skiing. Bob skied on the back of Glen Plake’s skis on moguls, went off a jump, and finished with ballet tricks. (1st Place - Team Event)

+ Celebrity

1972 Appeared in Skiers to Match the Mountains by Gary Nate Productions

1972-98 Featured in over 100 Newspaper Articles

1974 Stars as himself in Winter Equinox Movie

1974 Featured on ABC Wide World Of Sports - Park City Beconta Cup Winner

1974 Ski America Freestyle Exhibition half-time trampoline show on 50-yard line for New England Patriots - Schafer Stadium (60,000 spectators + national television viewers)

1974-88 Appears in Seven Warren Miller Films

1979 Stars with John Eaves in Willy Bogner’s Ski Fantasy

1975-79 Modeled for Bogner ski wear and photographed jumping a crevasse

1978 FIS World Championships Aerial Show for Opening Ceremonies. Assistant Director to Willy Bogner – Garmisch, Germany

1978 CBS World Pro Am Aerial Skiing Championships - Nordic Valley Ski Resort, Utah

1979 Co-produced with Frank Bare - CBS Sports Spectacular

1980 Co-producer of Summer Air Festival Exhibition - Water Ramp and Trampoline (Nordic Valley Ski Resort, Utah. Featured by Real People Television Show and PM Magazine)

1987 Appears with Suzy Chaffee and John Eaves in Willy Bogner’s blockbuster movie Fire & Ice

Featured in the Book: Ski Free

Featured in Magazine Advertisements for Western Airlines

Featured in McDonalds Commercial

Featured in Right Guard Commercial which aired during the Super Bowl

Bad Bob’s motions were captured for the Tomorrow Never Dies – James Bond Video Game

Guest Star on Donnie & Marie Show – Featuring Salerno’s Virtual Snow Ski Simulator

+ Sports Builder

1978 Created a water ramp for aerial training (largest of it’s kind in the world), and an on-snow winter jump, which made training available at a time when aerials were banned from ski resorts.

1997 Founded Virtual Snow Ski and Snowboard Training

1999 Ski Dazzle Award for Contribution to Sport of Skiing Through Innovations in Teaching, Freestyle Skiing and Entertainment

2001 Utah Ski Archives – Utah Hall of Fame Inductee

2011 Bill Mackey Award – Far West Ski Association

2011 Pioneer of Freestyle Award – US Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame

2015 Official Inductee into the US Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame

+ Anecdotes

At the young age of 16, Salerno did a front flip at Park City Mountain Resort. Upon landing, Bob looked up and saw Stein Eriksen who said, “Very good front flip young man”. This was a major source of inspiration for Bob.

As 1974 Grand Prix Champion, Salerno was celebrated as Ski Magazine's Freestyler of the Year. He received the highest points for this four-event professional tour by an incredible 33% higher score than the next closest competitor. Taking his place on the podium nine times; four of which were first place.

Signature Tricks: Bob was the only competitor to do double front flips consistently. You rarely see front somersaults today because of the level of danger and difficulty to land. Salerno was also the first to do tip drop helicopters in competition.

In the late ‘70s the professional freestyle tour, screeched to a stop. Ski areas all over the country posted signs that said: “Inverted Aerials Prohibited.” In response to this Bob got permission from Nordic Valley Ski Resort, which he had a part ownership in, to build the largest water ramp in the world and an on snow aerial hill for winter jumping. Bob, Frank Bare, Hans Ribi and Jeff Chumas built it. Bob made it available for aerialists from all over the US and Canada to train. The worlds first triple twisting triples were accomplished there. The water ramp, which was 28’ off the water, also enabled the quad somersault by Jeff Chumas, and the lay-full-full, and full-full-full by Frank Bare, which were literally years ahead of the sport. This training resource was the largest in history at the time. As part owner of Nordic Valley and Director of Skiing, Bob produced several summer festivals involving his world champion friends. Salerno, along with Frank Bare, produced an NBC televised aerial event and a CBS televised aerial event, allowing competitors to have a playground for aerial acrobatic jumping in the summer and winter. It was almost ten years later that the next water ramp was built for Lake Placid aerial summer training, just before aerials became an Olympic sport.

Suzy Chaffee was terrified of somersaults, especially on skis! She was going to quit freestyle until Bob Salerno and Robert Young taught her front somersaults on skis.

Bob’s simulator was combined with a bungee system built by Frank Bare. Frank trained world class athletes doing somersaults and various tricks on his Virtual Snow “X-Deck” in Utah. Bob built his own in LA and got it on National TV for Ski Dazzle giving Frank credit on camera to the reporter.

This helped promote safety in aerials for winter sports.