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  • Dr. Jack Horton Interview


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    A few months before I was born in 1968, my father Dr. Jack Horton began pumping water in the first ever purpose-built tournament water ski lake. In early 1969, he and Bob Barton took the inaugural ski rides at Horton Lake. Now, 40 years later, I asked my father about the early days. 

    John Horton: In 1968 you put water in the worlds first man made ski lake. Now 40 years later your original design has really proven to be timeless. Today there are hundreds of copies around the world. How did you come up with your basic design?

     

     

    Dr. Horton: When we were living in Denver, a land developer and housing builder asked me to give him the dimensions of a small lake in which he could have a slalom course and a jump. We put out some balls drove the boat around and measured it. Then we knew what was required. The developer did not go ahead with his plans. Later, when we moved to California and couldn’t find a decent site, we built our own lake using those plans.

    When we first went to find a place to ski in Southern California we skied a little at a site called Golden West, which is down in the Long Beach area on the Pacific Ocean. This is where the Los Angeles River dumps into the bay. It was pretty bad, but it was the best we had. So I decided right then, that if I could afford it, we would do something a little different than that... a lot different than that.

    That’s when my father, your grandfather, John C. Horton, moved to California.  He scouted all around for possible sites near Carlsbad, Norco and several up here in Newberry Springs. We knew it was possible because a cousin of ours had a small lake in Newberry Springs where he trained field trial dogs.

    John Horton: You have seen tow boats evolve from Spartan outboards to the current high tech purpose built boats with satellite throttle control. What do you really think has been the most important development you see in the boats?

    Dr. Horton: Perfect Pass is the best because it has allowed us to eliminate the human element in drivers.

    John Horton: It was not that long ago that we were hand timing the boats.

    Dr. Horton: Over the years we tried to develop timing systems here at Horton lakes. Fred Stork, a high school buddy of mine, who is very tech savvy, came to visit one time and we tried to work it out with a radar system. It worked wonderfully well off of the rooster tail. However, he lost some of the parts in the lake and we never pursued that idea again. Australian skier Tony Cunningham, known by many as “Tony the timer,” came up with a system that used sonar and transmitted times to shore. However the system was not watertight and didn’t work consistently. Bottom line, the technology behind Perfect Pass is the best.
     
    John Horton: Let’s talk about skis for a minute. You were there when skis were wooden and flat. Today skis are made from carbon fiber and PVC foam. Today scores are higher but my question is, is it more fun today and is the competition better?

    Dr. Horton: Today the competition is better. Oh you bet. Modern equipment has helped a great deal.

    John Horton: What can you tell me about the first concave ski you know of?

    Dr. Horton: In Denver, we were making wooden skis. Norm Speak (father of Trudi Speak Boyd) and I, but mostly Norm, were making skis with a wooden press. Herb O'Brien up in Seattle was doing the same thing. All skis were wooden at that time. Jim Nock, my brother in law, got a ski that was flat on the bottom, but the wood warped in a concave configuration and all of a sudden he became one heck of a lot better then the rest of us. That was my first clue!

    Ken White was the first one that deliberately fashioned a ski with a concave bottom, and his was pretty extreme. He did continue to develop it and he designed many skis for Connelly.

    John Horton: Joy Todd-Strickland, Tarah Benzel Mikacich, and Rhoni Barton Bischoff are all children of skiers who spent a lot of time at Horton Lakes in the 70s and 80s. Did you ever imagine that you were mentoring generations of elite skiers?

    Dr. Horton: Well, you just mentioned a few, but there were many. At first, because our water conditions were the best in the world, and we had the latest boats, a lot of the people that were the innovators in this sport, skied here. Bob Barton, Rhoni’s dad, was part of our team when we first build the lake, before she was born.

    You're talking about Cindy Hutchinson Todd (World Overall Champion), Cyndi & Dave Benzel (many time National Champions who ran our school for about ten years), Trudi Speak Boyd (1975 US World Team Member), and Wayne Grimditch (World Jump Record Holder & World Champion) as well as the Australian world team and many elite New Zealand skiers. We were seeing the best in the world at that time.

    John Horton: There are a couple in stories from back in the day that I'd like to clarify. Is it true that sometime in the seventies one of the LaPoint brothers pulled a pylon clear out the boat during a tournament?

    Dr. Horton: In those days we had dual engine outboards. There were several ways to rig the pylon. Some were rigged in such a way that the pylon on was just screwed into the floor of the boat. Anyway, in the tournament Kris LaPoint was skiing at pretty short line and, at about three ball, the tow pylon just went fifteen feet in the air. Obviously we gave him a re-ride ride. In those days we attracted a pretty large crowd. They pretty much went wild.

    John Horton: I believe it was 1972 that Wayne Greenwich jumped 172 feet  at the lake which was a world record. Can you explain to me why that record was never a certified?

    Dr. Horton: It takes a while to get all the facts together. The next weekend Wayne went gone down to Callaway Gardens and jumped 180 feet so it didn't make sense to go ahead and go through all the rigmarole to get a record recorded.

    John Horton: Victor Melendez was a very colorful character who skied for the Mexican world team for a long time. But the day that we met him is kind of a classic Horton family story. Could you recount the day you met Victor?

    Dr. Horton: I think he arrived in Barstow via Greyhound. Then he hitch-hiked from Barstow to Newberry Springs and walked five miles across the desert to get to the lake. Someone directed him to the pistachio field, where I was pruning trees. I was out working in the field, and this young Mexican man came up and introduced himself. He said he was studying fruit and nut trees and asked me some questions about the orchard.

    We talked and worked in the field for a while. When we walked over to the dock, and I said, “Do you water ski?”

    He said, “I've skied a little.”

    I said, “Would you like to ski?” and he said, “I didn’t bring my ski with me”.

    I asked, “What kind of ski would you like?” He answered “There's an EP over there. I might like to run the course on that ski.”

    When he got set I asked how fast he wanted to go. “Let’s go 36.” I thought, “Wow!” I couldn't believe it. If I remember, he went out at 28 off at 36 mph, and he ran the course. Then he made 32 off, 35 off, and he made several at 38 off. I said, “You know how to ski all right!” Over the next eight to ten years we became good friends and he came back and worked for us periodically.

    John Horton: How many national championships do you have?

    Dr. Horton I really can’t tell you for sure. I should count them up, I suppose. I think its 6 or 7 overall titles. I have one jumping and have won several in tricks. The one national championship I do not have is slalom. I've been second three times; I'm still working on that. We will see what happens.

    John Horton: Water skiing has taken you all over the world. Do you know how many countries you've skied in and do you have a favorite international skiing experience?

    Dr. Horton: I have skied in Jordan, Germany, England, Sweden, Mexico, Argentina, Italy and Australia. My favorite… well, I have to say there are probably two or three. One was at the senior championships in Salzburg, Germany where I placed second in the world in tricks. At the Senior World Championships in Sicily, I was third overall. I believe I was first or second in tricks, but I don't think I was in the top 5 in jumping. In Argentina, I won all the events in my particular division. They were wonderfully hospitable people down there. Salta, Argentina was just a wonderful experience. I skied in the Senior Moomba twice. I think I tricked pretty well there.

    John Horton: I want close by repeating a statement that I made on The Today Show a few years ago. What I said was, “Where ever I go in water skiing, I meet people who say, “Oh you're Doctor Horton's son. Your father got me into skiing.”
     
    Dr. Horton: That’s because we've had a ski school all these years. It’s just a great way to keep in shape and to make friends.

    John Horton: Alright Dad. Thank you for taking time out from your Lakers game to tell some stories.

     

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