On the other end of the phone, there was a laugh—the genuine, disbelieving kind you might hear from someone holding a winning lottery ticket. "Because you don't believe it until it's in your hand," said Ross Anderson, a New Mexico native and former world-class speed skier. For him, that feeling has defined the months leading up to this Friday, when the state will officially declare May 8 as Ross Anderson Day.

The celebration, set for Saturday at Sports Systems, will feature Albuquerque leaders, representatives from the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribe (of which Anderson is a proud member), and an official proclamation from Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. Cultural performances and a traditional acknowledgment will round out the event, all organized through Anderson's Star 154 Foundation. The foundation's mission: introduce Native youth to skiing, expand educational opportunities, and foster community outreach.

"What else can you compare it to?" Anderson said of his lottery analogy. "I never thought I'd ever get into a Hall of Fame, and now I'm in five. I never thought in my life that I would have a day. But hopefully, it helps the younger generation realize that they can do the same—that they can follow their dreams and do something with it."

Anderson's journey began at Holloman Air Force Base in 1971, but his "former life" lasted just two weeks. Earney and Phyllis Anderson adopted him, and the family soon moved to Durango, Colorado. It was his father, a former college racer who quit the sport after witnessing a fellow competitor die in a collision with a tree, who first introduced Ross to skiing. Though Earney left competitive racing behind, he stayed close to the slopes as a weekend ski patroller at Purgatory Resort. That mountain became Ross's backyard playground—a place to learn, hone his skills, and simply have fun.

"I loved skiing to the point where when I was 8 years old, I snuck my mom's iron into my bedroom so I could wax my skis on the dresser," Anderson recalled. The skis came out fine. His bedroom carpet? Not so much—it bore a few burn marks. "It wasn't a good idea," he confessed, "but that's how much I was into it."

Anderson's passion and talent drove him to pursue a career in skiing, not just for himself, but for others—especially those who looked like him and were absent from televised events, media coverage, and podiums. "I decided, 'You know what? I'm going to make a difference,'" he said. And now, with a day named in his honor, he's doing just that—proving that dreams, no matter how unlikely, can become reality.