Beverly Hills

Local student designs potential X Games medal

By Chris Jackett
C & G Staff Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photos courtesy of Jenny Hoover Featuring a large X on top of a Rocky Mountain backdrop, Beverly Hills resident Gar Hoover’s design for a Winter X Games medal was nearly chosen as the one event winners would receive at this week’s X Games competition in Aspen, Colo. Photos courtesy of Jenny Hoover Featuring a large X on top of a Rocky Mountain backdrop, Beverly Hills resident Gar Hoover’s design for a Winter X Games medal was nearly chosen as the one event winners would receive at this week’s X Games competition in Aspen, Colo.

BEVERLY HILLS — As the Winter X Games kick off in Aspen, Colo., this week, the winners will wear custom-made medals created by a fan.

That fan was nearly resident Gar Hoover, a 16-year-old junior at Southfield Christian. Hoover’s medal design, which featured an X on the front of a Rocky Mountain backdrop, initially took second place in the national competition, before the stipulation that he needed to be 18 removed him from the final decision.

“I figured it out after I submitted it,” Hoover said of the age limitation. “This is the first year they’ve ever done this.”

With the thought that he didn’t qualify, he went on with life until he received an email about the contest in November.

“At first, they had to just pick the top 16, and then they had the rest of the country vote,” Hoover said. “I totally forgot about it until they sent an email that I was in the top 16.”

The country voted on those 16, and Hoover ended up in the top three alongside Joe Hodnicki’s design of skis and a snowboard forming an X and Steve Winiarz’s mitten-shaped design.

“The athletes and the fans are what make the X Games, so this year we decided to put the opportunity to design the Winter X Games Aspen medals, by way of an online submission contest, in the hands of the fans,” said Shawn Seward, X Games director of sports and competition, in a release. “To further the spirit of letting the fans drive the process, the winning medal design was chosen by the fans. It’s been fun to watch all the designs come in — from kids’ hand-drawn designs to polished renderings to the straight-up kooky.”

Hoover said the support he received locally during the contest’s voting period was an appreciated shock.

“Everyone would come up and say ‘Hey, I voted for you.’ People I didn’t even know voted for me. It was just really cool,” Hoover said. “I have never taken a graphic design class, but I’ve taken a lot of art classes.”

Taking just 90 minutes to design and sketch his piece, Hoover used the Sumo Paint software program online to fine tune his creation.

His strategy for the design was to make it “mature” because of the X Games’ prestige.

“If I ever had to win a medal, I wouldn’t want it to be a weird one or mittens,” Hoover said.

He said the rules for the inaugural contest were pretty loose, allowing for all sorts of options with just a few requirements to honor the event’s 16th anniversary.

“It had to be under 4 inches in size,” Hoover said. “They didn’t really have too many guidelines on it except it has to have something to do with the X Games and be appropriate.”

An avid skier since he was 4 and a snowboarder since he was 12, Hoover received a prize package in December with an X Games hat, ski socks, glasses, posters and stickers for initially finishing second.

Once he was declared ineligible due to being under 18, Winiarz’s design was declared second and the contest listed Dan Marino’s gold ring design as third place. Hodnicki’s design remained first and will adorn the winners’ necks Jan. 26-29 in Aspen.

Contest officials told Hoover he was welcome to enter next year, but needed someone who was 18 or older so submit the design on his behalf.

He plans to compete once again.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Chris Jackett at cjackett@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1110.