History of the US Nationals

From the Jan Feb 1982 Water Skier

..... Read more about the 1st  2nd  and  3rd  US Nationals

Evolution of the Nationals
Dan Hains could hardly forsee the 42 years of achievement that have shaped the character of AWSA, by Duke Cullimore

What is the National Water Ski Championships?
There is no pat answer to that question because the replies you get will vary greatly depending upon whom you ask. To some, the Nationals represents a family vacation with skiing and social opportunities. To others, this once-yearly tournament is a challenge involving hard work and long hours to make the event happen. Still others, certainly in the majority, see the Nationals as the ultimate opportunity to test their skills against rivals to determine who are the best water skiers in the nation. And there are some who look upon the Nationals as a commercial venture, a showcase for skis, boats and other equipment, with the prize being an opportunity to beat the drums of self promotion.

If you study the history of the Nationals, It's obvious that you're dealing with a complex matter. Woven into the rich fabric of personalities, places and events are wandering threads of success and failure that emerge in an overall pattern which exemplifies the character of the American Water Ski Association. In the final analysis, the National tournament is a mirror of AWSA, reflecting it accomplishments over the past 42 years as the association has endeavored to meet the challenges of its charter.

After the incorporation of AWSA as a non-profit organization in early 1939, it didn't take long for founder Dan Hains to decide that what the fledgling association needed was some sort of attention-getting event to focus interest on the group and the sport. That summer, he and a few other area skiers decided to promote the first national tournament. They chose a site at Jones Beach State Park on Long Island.

Not much is known about that tournament because records of it were destroyed in a fire some years later. And, as Hains later said, deciding to call the event a "national" tournament was somewhat presumptuous since almost all of the competitors were local skiers.

In spite of being "national" in name only, this first championship meet did produce some cornerstones that helped to form the foundation of tournament water skiing as we know it today. Perhaps the most important of these was the establishment at the very beginning of the threeevent tournament - slalom, jumping and tricks - which remains the basis for competition today.

Tournament skiing wasn't the same then as we know it now. For one thing, the slalom course was run in a straight line, the contestants weaving through a series of eight buoys. Jumping was really a challenge. The ramp was 24 feet long with the high end five feet above the water, both measurements not too far from those used today. But there the resemblance ceased. The surface of the ramp was composed of small wooden rollers with about six inches of space between each row. It's probably just as well that the boat they had for pulling skiers in that first Nationals was powered by a 33-horsepower outboard engine. Anything faster and there would have been more injuries than the one broken arm reported. The contest seemed to revolve around who could get over the ramp without crashing. And since judging was done on form only, distance not counting, selecting the winner was easy. The first National title went to Jack Schiess, the only man who didn't fall on three jumps.

Trick skiing was in its infancy then. Bruce Parker, who was to become world-renowned for his water skiing performances, won tricks by taking one ski off, hooking the tow handle over the instep of his free foot, and holding the off ski over his head. His second trick consisted of putting the ski back on and staying up. While they were considered daring at the time, neither trick would count Jor points in one of today's highscoring runs. Parker also won the slalom event that day and subsequently captured the men's overall title. There were only two divisions of skiers: men and women. Esther Yates won women's slalom and women's overall title.

Two more National Championships were held, in 1940 and '41, before restrictions imposed by the Second World War curtailed such activities. It's notable that two of the country's foremost skiers of the time, Chuck Sligh and Jack Andresen, participated in the 1940 meet. Both became important figures in the later development, of AWSA. Andresen was from New York State and would have had little problem being aware of the newly formed association and the Nationals tournament. But Sligh was a midwesterner, from Holland, Mich., a fact that led to the geographic expansion of the Nationals in 1941 when he moved the tournament to his home town.

It didn't take long after the end of the war for interest in the Nationals to be revived. Sligh promoted two more tournaments in Michigan in '46 and & '47. The latter proved to be somewhat of a milestone for competitive skiing: It was there that the present staggered six-buoy course was first employed. At the 1947 tourney, the geographic scope of the Nationals expanded with the appearance of skiers from such distant states as California and Florida.

The National tournament continued to hop over the map in the post-war period. In the decade of the '50's, nine different sites were chosen for the annual contest. The trend continued into the '60's with all but two of the 10 sites being locations which had never seen a National tournament. In the '70's, seven of the 10 Nationals sites had never hosted the event before. All told, in the past 31 years only eight sites have hosted the Nationals more than one time, and only one - Callaway Gardens - has been the site three times.

This geographical exposure undoubtedly has been beneficial to AWSA. Publicity surrounding the event, spectators who came out to see some action, and media coverage have all contributed to introducing water skiing and AWSA to thousands of people who might never have become involved. Equally as important to members have been the many opportunities to participate in tournaments because at some time or another one was held near enough to their homes to allow them to attend.

Down through the years the National tournament has played an important role in the development of criteria for facilities and equipment at tournament sites. Although such things as prevailing winds, water conditions, other boat traffic and shore facilities were certainly in the minds of early .sponsors, lack of experience and the scarcity of good sites sometimes resulted in the selection of less desirable places to hold the championships.

Local ski clubs have always been involved in National tournaments; however AWSA could offer only limited assistance until 1955 when fulltime leadership was provided by the Outboard Boating Club of America in Chicago. There had been a tournament site selection committee, but it operated mostly on the basis of personal knowledge of a site and had few - if any - established criteria. All a local ski club needed in order to sponsor the Nationals was a site with water on it, enough willing hands to do the work, and some money.

An indication of the problems encountered is gleaned from the July, 1956 issue of The Water Skier. Stone Lake at LaPorte, Ind., was that year's Nationals site, and in reporting on it prior to the tournament, the magazine promised exclusive use of the lake. "Surrounded by hills. . . the lake can only be approached by visitors and skiers. This precludes strangers in canoes paddling through the slalom course or wandering fishermen casting for bass in the shade of the jump ramp." Such reassurances indicate some of the problems they were having with sites in those days.

The first reference in The Water Skier to the responsibilities incurred by a National tournament sponsor was published in May, 1957, a brief passage stating that a $10,000 performance bond was required. In the June, 1960 issue of the magazine is the first indication of bid specifications which must be submitted by a prospective sponsor. Required were a map of the site and facilities, plus information about financial backing, experience of the local group, weather, spectator facilities, publicity, cooperation of civic groups, and housing and food accommodations.

From then on, with the hiring of a full-time executive director and staff in 1958, continuous development in site standards and performance requirements has led to increasing consistency in the staging of a National tournament. Of equal importance, these criteria have trickled down over the years to Regionals and other sanctioned tournaments, a process which has established a tradition of quality and safety in water ski competition. Along with the development of National tournament site criteria, a simultaneous evolution was underway in competitive skiing methods and equipment. Jumping offers perhaps the most dramatic example of this.

Until the advent of the double-cut approach to the jump in the mid-'50's, a skier attacked the ramp in a straight line and went up and over. In doing so he traveled faster than his towboat and as a: result accumulated a lot of slack line which had the nasty habit of winding itself around an arm or leg, and in at least one instance in a tournament, around the neck of a competitor. Some jumpers used the slack to their advantage by "walking the line." In effect, they would pull themselves along the line while in the air, a maneuver that added to the distance of their jump (some skilled skiers could "walk" eight or ten feet), and to the amount of loose line flying around the skier. Because of the obvious safety hazard, line walking was eventually ruled out of sanctioned competition.

The first time the double-wake cut approach to the jump ramp appeared in the Nationals was in 1954 at Laconia, N.H. Warren Witherell did it. Recalling the event he recently said. "I never practiced it before the meet. It was a desperation effort to make up for the handicap of skiing on borrowed skis. My custom jumpers were stolen the night before the competition."

His leap measured 100 feet, one foot better than the existing world record. Unfortunately, it was a foot shy of the two-foot margin required at the time for a new world mark. It wouldn't have lasted long anyway; the next two jumpers went 102 and 103 feet, respectively. Witherell finally managed to pin down the record the following weekend at the New England Open where he cut across both wakes to soar to 106 feet, still on borrowed skis.

Double-cut jumping really got a kick in the seat at the 1955 Nationals, held at Lakeland, Fla. Swinging wide to the right behind his towboat, in what was obviously an unprecedented approach, Alvin "Butch" Rosenberg suddenly cut back across the wakes, slammed up the ramp and soared 125 feet, breaking the old jump record by nine feet.

The crowd on the shore went wild. Never had they seen anything like it. Spectators in street clothing became so excited that they jumped into the water in an effort to reach Rosenberg as he skied back to the stands. Although the straight approach to the ramp continued to be used, along with a modified one-wake cut, the double-cut had made its mark at the '55 Nationals, and despite some objections to it as being too dangerous, it was gradually adopted by all the better jumpers.

In at least one respect the National tournament has posed a dilemma for AWSA. All serious competitors view an opportunity to ski in the Nationals as a dream come true. It is the summit of their skiing careers, the ultimate reward for hard work and the skill it produces. Yet there is a clear need to restrict the number of entrants in the tournament so that it truly is a championship event produced within a reasonable time frame without placing unreasonable demands upon sponsors, judges, scorers, boat drivers and all others who work to make the tournament a success.

Bruce Parker recently recalled that at the first Nationals, at Jones Beach, there were only 27 skiers; five women and 22 men. During the '40's and '50's, the number of competitors gradually increased and in 1954, at Laconia, N.H., there were 97 entrants. The following year, at Lakeland, Fla., 161 skiers entered. Over the next 14 years, the number of entries see-sawed but never topped 200. In 1970 there were 212 entrants, and only three years later the figure was up to 333! Not only had the number of Nationals skiers increased dramatically, but the rate at which they were increasing had set a fast pace, too.

Thus, the need arose to restrict the number of competitors yet keep the tournament as open as possible so that it remained a worthy and attainable goal for AWSA members. Out of this dilemma came the gradual development of the AWSA's rating and classification system, a direct benefit of which has been the continual upgrading of skills among both competitive and recreational skiers.

Classes of competition came about early as a natural result of the need to group skiers by reason of age as well as sex. In '39, '40 and '41 there were only two divisions: Men and Women. Then after the war came Jr. Boys, Jr. Girls and Mixed Doubles. The next divisions to be added were Veterans, Girls and Boys. For a few years Jr. Boys and Jr. Girls were dropped, but they were revived in 1960. At the 1960 Nationals, held in Minneapolis, there were eight divisions, in 1973 eleven, and today thirteen.

The need for some sort of qualification system was recognized as early as 1952, even at a time when there were fewer than 100 skiers showing up for the event. At the annual meeting of the Board of Directors, it was noted that the Classification Committee should be enlarged and the regulations restudied. "More emphasis on Classification might do much to stimulate improvement in skiing," reported The Water Skier.

Again, at the annual membership meeting in Long Beach, Calif., held in conjunction with the 1953 National tournament, the matter of classification for competitive skiers was voiced and the board was instructed to appoint a committee to make recommendations.
During these years, there were ratings for skiers ranging from Novice to Expert, but no particular rating or other demonstration of achievement was required to compete in the Nationals. Finally, in a rule change published in January, 1955 came the first indication that ratings would begin to figure into eligibility for Nationals competition. The new rule said, "The tournament committee of a U.S. National Tournament may, at its own discretion, require that entrants in any event of any class have passed the Expert rating requirement pertaining to that event. . ."

It's not likely that the Expert rating option was used at the 1955 tournament when 161 skiers showed up at Lakeland, the largest number ever to ski in a Nationals. Reporting on the meet, the September, 1955 issue of The Water Skier offered its opinion that "The 1955 Nationals marked the end of an era. The entry list in the tournament swelled to a point where skiers were working from dawn to dusk. . . water skiing has come of age."

The matter of qualifying National tournament competitors, simmering on the back burner for so many years, now began to boil over. Among the duties handed to the 1955-56 Tournament Committee, headed by veteran skier Warren Witherell, was the task to somehow "establish ways and means of eliminating skiers obviously not yet qualified to engage in competition on a national level." In May, 1956, The Water Skier published the first qualifications for National tournament competitors. Prior to this, the tournament was open to any skier holding membership in AWSA.

To qualify for the 1956 tournament a skier must have placed first, second or third in a sanctioned Regional tournament during the previous three years, or must have qualified by reason of holding an Expert rating in the Men's division, or at least a First Class rating for all other divisions. One hundred sixty-three skiers, the greatest number yet, qualified and skied at the LaPorte, Ind., tournament that year!

In 1960, eligibility for the Nationals depended upon placement in prior National or Regional tournaments plus having an Expert rating in all events which the skier entered, or by having a Master rating in an event regardless of prior tournament placement.

And so the battle for containing the Nationals went into the '60's, '70's and continues to this day. Editorials appeared in The Water Skier, debates were held by the Board of Directors, committee reports presented, individual opinions expressed, rules changed - but with it all, the Nationals continued to expand - going from three to four and finally to five days.

Fueling the growth over the years has been a continuous increase in the number of participants in water skiing, a certain percentage of whom are encouraged to become competitive skiers. It appears to be an unending process. As National tournament eligibility requirements are raised, up go the proficiency levels of the skiers who are trying to get into the tournament. The Nationals entry list has been considerably more than 400 for each of the past three years.

Few neophyte organizations can successfully define their philosophical concepts, and AWSA was no exception. If anyone had asked Dan Hains in 1939 to explain the future role of the National Championships, he probably would have been hard pressed to do so.

The development of the Nationals to its present position as the premier AWSA sanctioned tournament has been an evolutionary process that continues today. Its true role, and the guiding principles behind the tournament's operation, were clearly defined in 1974 by a blue ribbon committee studying the question of limiting the number of participants. Among other recommendations, including expanding the number of days to five, the committee urged AWSA to affirm its position that the National tournament belonged to and was an integral part of the association. The committee went on to state, "The Nationals, in the eyes of the majority of our members, is to be an attainable goal for those willing to devote a considerable portion of their lives to water skiing, and not a show for the benefit of super-skiers and spectators. The goal of the board, and the committees working under it, should be to keep the Nationals to manageable proportions so that those who set this tournament as their goal may find it an enjoyable experience when they get there."
As long as the National tournament remains an enjoyable experience for those who participate, it will continue to serve as a mirror reflecting the goals and the hopes of AWSA and its members.

How Not to Take Up Slack

Ingenuity has its place in water skiing, and the problem of slack line in the early days of jumping (before the advent of the double-cut) led to the development of a questionable gadget called a "bazooka." Bill Clifford, writing about it in the January, 1967 issue of The Water Skier. likened the device to an eight-foot long cannon mounted at the stern of the towboat. Inside a four-inch diameter pipe were several elastic shock cords which could be stretched by an operator in the boat. If everything worked as it should, when a jumper had cleared the ramp the pre-stretched shock cord was released and - being attached to the skier's towline - would immediately take up the slack, pulling the skier along too.

How well it worked can be judged from Clifford's amusing account of his experience with the device at the 1951 Dixie Tournament:
" What followed. . . was the greatest assortment of flips, flops, nose dives and somersaults that the sport had ever seen. . . Profiting from what I had seen, I was careful not to swing out hard - as the boat made its turn - to insure that I was stretching the shock cord to a minimum. I assumed a deep crouch and grasped the handle as tightly as possible as I headed for the jump. Once on the jump, I was snatched headlong, sans skis, into a tumbling arc that included all of the contortions of people who fall from high places. The resultant splat was stunning. a distance of some 70 feet, which was a good fall in those days and farther than many jumps."