Word: alec
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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York and Newport luxury. A gangling, tree-tall adolescent with a huge head topped by unruly red hair, Alec inevitably got the nickname "Pin," learned to play tennis well enough to reach the quarterfinals of the Newport Invitational when he was 16. He prepared for the match (against Wilmer Allison) by drinking till dawn, then amazed himself by taking a 4-1 lead in the second set. At this point his hangover caught up with him. Says Cushing: "I had a total blackout. When I tried to throw the ball up for service, I almost went flat on my face...
...third-class ticket. On one voyage, he ingratiated himself with Boxing Manager Joe ("I should have stood in bed") Jacobs before the ship left the dock, spent most of the trip playing poker on A-deck with Jacobs, Max Schmeling and Morton Downey. In his sophomore year Alec decided summer trips were too short, set out to get his degree in three years, didn't quite make it (he lacked one-half unit), but managed a nine-month tour of the Far East (on which he visited with Fred Astaire) while his classmates labored back in Cambridge...
...left Harvard Law, Cushing married blonde, blue-eyed Justine Cutting, socialite daughter of Dr. Fulton Cutting of New York, professor of physics at New Jersey's Stevens Institute. His closest friend (and fellow Porcellian), Alexander McFadden, had married Justine's older sister. All through his life Alec Cushing has known important people, and casually made the most of his contacts. Desultorily looking for a job. Cushing ran into his old Groton classmate, Stewart Alsop, through him got an interview with Justice Department Trustbuster Thurman Arnold, who promptly hired...
Tragedy. Cushing first saw Squaw Valley in 1946. hiked into it (there was no road then) with a likable skier and Pan American World Airways pilot named Wayne Poulsen. who had bought up much of the valley's land. Over the bridge table that night, Alec cautiously asked his wife: "How would you like to live in these mountains?" Justine did not look up from her cards. "Are you out of your mind, Cushing?" she inquired icily. But two years later the Cushings and the McFaddens headed west once more to check on Squaw as a possible ski resort...
Despite the tragedy. Cushing was obsessed with opening a ski area, went into partnership with Airman Poulsen to develop Squaw in June 1948. Poulsen supplied the land-640 acres-and Cushing the money-$400,000. Alec and Justine invested $145,000 of their own, got $50,000 from Laurance Rockefeller, the rest from other friends...