ASHLAND — Jim Hooker’s list of life accomplishments received an unusual and significant bump earlier this month.
The Ashland High School (1964) and Ashland University (1973) alumnus is a U.S. Navy Seabees veteran who served in Vietnam and retired as vice president after working 38 years at Gorman-Rupp. Those achievements would be interesting on their own.
But he’s not watching life pass through his window while seated in a recliner. To the contrary, Hooker has grabbed a tow rope and is managing the waves as an elite national water skier, at age 74. Hooker recently won the overall championship in his age division at the USA Water Ski Association competition in Wilmington, Illinois.
“I set out with the goal of simply qualifying for Nationals and enjoying the experience of skiing with the country’s best. The results were far more than I could have dreamed of,” Hooker said. “But I don’t measure my successes in water skiing based on tournament standings, because the reality is that in my age division there are relatively few competitors compared to the younger divisions.
“Rather, I measure success by accomplishing the goals that I set for myself and validating the help, guidance, and coaching that I’ve received from many other people.
“I wouldn’t even have started on the journey without the encouragement and support of Sallie, my loving wife. She accompanied me to every competition and leads the spectators in cheering me on and celebrating each accomplishment along the way.”
The Hookers reside in Richland County on Trout Drive midway between Mansfield and Ashland.
Jim was introduced to competitive water skiing when he was 45 years old. Prior to that, with his wife Sallie and their daughter Stephanie, the Hookers were recreational water skiers who spent many hours on Pleasant Hill Lake.
It was through a mutual friend that he met Jim Grogg, a veteran tournament water skier who encouraged Hooker to learn the sport.
“We’re really proud of him,” Grogg said. “We’ve been water skiing together for about 20 years. He got to a point where after skiing at local events, last year he won state.
“This year he went to nationals, and just went out there and did it.”
Building on his basic skills, Grogg patiently taught Hooker the fundamentals of slalom, tricks, and jump skiing, the three events which comprise traditional water skiing competitions.
“Along the way he also taught me how to barefoot water ski although that was for fun and not for competition,” Hooker said.
Grogg took Hooker to his first tournament in 1993 where he competed in the novice division. With a lot of encouragement from his wife, Hooker attended more tournaments over the next few years and learned to enjoy the challenges of water skiing as a competitive sport — in addition to the family fun that recreational water skiing provided.
During that time, the Hookers’ daughter, Stephanie, was becoming a skilled kneeboard water skier on her way to winning a number of state, regional, and national tournaments.
“Our commitment to Stephanie’s success coupled with my increasing professional responsibilities and travel limited my time on the water,” Hooker said. “When I retired from Gorman-Rupp I began to train for competitive skiing again, dreaming of the day I might qualify for the ski jumping event in the national championships.”
For those new to the sport, traditional water skiing competition is comprised on three disciplines, or events.
1. Slalom skiing, in which a competitor skis around buoys placed on alternate sides of the boat path.
2. Trick skiing, in which a competitor performs maneuvers such as spins and flips on one or two short skis.
3. Jumping, in which a competitor skis over a ramp on two long skis specially built for that purpose.
This like the U.S. Water Ski Association explains each discipline in greater detail.
Scoring for each event is based on performance standards set by the USA Water Ski Association which follow those of the International Water Ski Federation. In most tournaments the individual event scores are combined to determine the overall winners for each age group.
“My favorite event has always been jumping because of the thrill of flying through the air on skis and the unique challenges and risks it presents,” Hooker said.
Scores for the jumping competition are awarded solely on distance; the farther a competitor jumps and manages to ski away, the higher the score.
“I was struggling to improve my distances through self coaching, so I enrolled in a jump training school in Florida a few years ago,” Hooker said. “The coaches really helped to improve my technique so that I could practice harder with fewer crashes and injuries while increasing my distances.”
Although jumping is Hooker’s favorite, he trains in all three disciplines at least two days a week on a ski lake built on Jim and Kathy Grogg’s Pleasant Valley Farm near Lucas.
“Entering the 2021 ski season, I set a goal of qualifying for the jumping event in the National Championship tournament,” he said.
Skiers earn qualification by their performances in state and regional tournaments leading up to the nationals. They are ranked against each other on a national percentile score according to their age division, which in Hooker’s case is Men’s 8, age 70 to 74.
“My sights were set on good jumping event scores but I also skied in slalom and tricks at each tournament,” he said. “My personal qualification journey started with two early season tournaments in Van Wert, Ohio then on to the Ohio State Championships in St. Mary’s, Ohio in July.”
At that event, Hooker achieved a new personal best and set a new Ohio State record in jumping distance for his age division.
Podium finishes in slalom and tricks, combined with first place in jumping resulted led to him winning the Men’s 8 Overall State Championship and qualifying for all three events in the Midwest Regional Championships. The 10-state Midwest Regional’s were held the following weekend in Wilmington, Illinois.
In jumping competition, a competitor gets three attempts to land a successful jump, with the longest jump of the three counting as the score.
“On this unfamiliar site with a very slippery ramp surface, I needed all three attempts,” Hooker said. “After crashing on my first jump, then falling on the second, I figured it out on the third and jumped to another personal-best record of 52 feet to win the event.”
That victory, combined with a second-place finish in tricks, garnered enough points to win the Men’s 8 Overall Regional Championship.
“Most importantly, the overall win qualified me to ski in all three events at the National Championship tournament which was held the following week at the same site in Illinois,” he said.
The National Championship Tournament is a week-long affair that brings hundreds of the top-ranked skiers in the country to compete for one of five podium spots in their age divisions.
This year there were approximately 60 Men’s 8 skiers in the country who qualified for Nationals and 15 elected to attend. Most of them were only qualified to ski in the slalom event, leaving a handful who were eligible to ski in all three events; slalom, tricks, and jumping.
“My slalom run was a disappointment, but my trick run was good enough for a fifth-place finish,” Hooker said. “As in previous tournaments, jumping carried the day for me when I landed all three jumps successfully and won the jumping championship.”
Despite flying into a 15 mph headwind, Hooker flew 50 feet at nationals to win the title. He claimed a bronze in trick skiing and the combined scores secured the Men’s 8 Division Overall National Championship.
“He just has the talent,” Grogg said. “He’s put in a lot of practice and a lot of water time.”
