Ross is fast.

Not just because his email address says so.

“This is the actual record helmet that I used when I went 154 [miles per hour],” Ross Anderson said.

He has the All-American Record for the fastest skier in the Western Hemisphere hitting a speed of 154.06 miles per hour in 2006 at Les Arcs, France.

“You’re in it, 24/7. Your mind, your body, your spirit. Everything has to be involved in it,” Anderson said.

This weekend he said he’ll be the first full-blooded Native American to be inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame.

“It comes in waves for me,” Anderson said. “Sometimes it’s the reality part. Sometimes it hits you and your stomach turns to butterflies.”

His speed accomplishments are secondary to him.

“You don’t see anybody of color competing. And that was my biggest thing when I was a kid,” he said. “There really was no real role model of a Native kid, like myself, to look up to.”

Anderson was born on the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico and he was adopted at just two weeks old.

He grew up skiing in southern Colorado, but felt underrepresented on ski slopes across the globe.

“You had Billy Mills, you had Jim Thorpe for track. And they were Native. But there really wasn’t anybody in the snow sports, the skiing part,” Anderson said.

That’s why the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribe member put his people front and center when he competed around the world.

“I represent all Native, all Indigenous,” Anderson said. “That’s why I have that helmet.” An airbrushed headdress helmet he wore during competitions. In a sport that requires head-to-toe equipment, Anderson’s painted feathers were always prominent on the podium.

Now he hopes he can be that role model he never had.

“Guess it’s like the American Dream,” Anderson said. “You can go out there and do what you want and make it happen.”

Anderson is paying his own way to the Hall of Fame induction this weekend. If you want to financially help him, you can here.