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NEWS BLOG

Foundation News

The 2023 USA Water Ski & Wake Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is just two days away... and registration to attend is now closed! But you can still join the fun! ​ JOIN US LIVE ON YOUTUBE ON April 15th at 7 pm ET.


Thanks to Vince Stadlbaur and The Water Ski Broadcast Company, EVERYONE can be part of the celebration! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZEY-80Qixc



Our 2023 Hall of Fame inductees are Jimmy Siemers and Keith St. Onge, and the Award of Distinction recipients are Chuck Alleger, Betty Bonifay, Roger Dilling, Russell Gay, and Matt May. The IWWF Hall of Fame inductees being honored are Ann O'Brine Satterfield and Lori Powell Drell.


For more information on our 2023 Inductees, go HERE or to donate in honor of your favorite 2023 Inductee, click the button below.









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The 2023 USA-WWF Hall of Fame Banquet is 10 days away! We're celebrating two Hall of Fame inductees this year: Keith St. Onge and Jimmy Siemers.


Keith St. Onge

When you think of barefoot water skiing, you think of Keith St. Onge. A dominant force in the sport for decades, KSO set the bar high for the next generation. As a young man, he shared the dock with Scarpa and Seipel and soon surpassed those pioneers of the sport, bringing barefooting into the new millennium.


KSO was the first barefooter to score more than 10,000 points in tricks and has set world records in all three events. He currently holds the men's slalom world record of 20.6 points. He's won 14 world championship gold medals and is a two-time overall world champion.


KSO has also won the U.S. National Overall title an unprecedented 19 times. Outside traditional three-event barefooting, KSO has won the Footstock Figure Eight National Championship three times.


KSO is a two-time International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation Athlete of the Year, he has won the USA Water Ski Athlete of the Year multiple times, is a Banana George Blairfooter of the Year, competed in the ESPN X-Games, and served as an American Barefoot Club Tournament Driver and Judge. He also is a member of the 2022 World Show Ski Team which will be competing in October.


KSO may have stopped barefooting competitively, but he still spends nearly every day on the lake with his family passing on his unwavering love of all types of water sports.


Jimmy Siemers

Jimmy Siemers is a three-time world-record holder and three-time world champion. He set two world records in the jumping event with 233 feet and 236 feet and his best skiing moment came when he set the world overall record.


Jimmy is a four-time U.S. Masters tricks champion, two-time Moomba Masters tricks champion, and two-time U.S. Open overall champion. In 2003 he was named the IWWF’s Male Water Ski Athlete of the Year after an incredible run of accomplishments that saw him win gold medals in tricks, jumping, and overall at the U21 Water Ski World Championships; gold medals in tricks and overall and the silver in jumping at the Elite Water Ski World Championships; gold medals in Open Men tricks, jumping and overall at the Goode Water Ski National Championships; pro jump titles at the Malibu Open and MasterCraft Pro; gold medals in tricks, jumping and overall at the Collegiate All-Stars; and the gold medal in tricks at the Collegiate Nationals.


He is a former member of the Arizona State water ski team, for which he won the trick event at Collegiate Nationals four times in his four years on the team before graduating in 2006. In addition to his four trick wins, he was an All-American in tricks, jumping, and overall throughout his college career. He also set a collegiate tricks record in his last tournament as a college student.


Learn more about our 2023 Hall of Fame Ceremony:





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Matt May will be awarded the USA Water Ski & Wake Sports Foundation's Award of Distinction at the 2023 Hall of Fame Ceremony on April 15th.






With a career spanning four decades, Matt May has had one of the most unique careers in the history of show skiing and in the sport of water skiing. He has done a combination of things that no other skier in the history of the sport has achieved and his career as a show skier is unmatched.


Matt has water skied for shows around the world, from the USA to Japan, Singapore, Germany, France, Russia, and Monaco. Many great skiers have come before him, but none have exceeded his diverse resume.


  • He was named Tommy Bartlett Skier of the Year 1998 & 2000

  • Sea World “Lynn Novakofski” Skier of the Year 1990

  • Boys Barefoot Jump National Champion and Record Holder 1995

  • Collegiate All American Men’s Jump 1996-98

  • National Freestyle Jump Champion 1998

  • 5th place Wakeboarding Nationals 1998

  • X Games Finalist Barefoot Jump 1999

  • Most Valuable Skier, Nagasaki Japan 2007

  • Sea World Australia Skier of the Year 2012-2013

  • Australian Men’s O35 Jump Champion


Matt was born into a water skiing family... a true "Ski Baby" and all-around water sports athlete. His mother Judes Gilkerson and his Uncle (Hall of Famer) Skip Gilkerson were seasoned show skiers at Cypress Gardens and the Tommy Bartlett show in Lake Delton, Wisconsin. Before the age of two, he was skiing professionally at the Tommy Bartlett show under the tutelage of his Uncle Skip. Matt progressed quickly in his skiing skills. He was slalom skiing by age four as well as barefooting and ski jumping by the age of five.


Although adept in competitive skiing, Matt’s bread and butter was the show skiing stage. From 1986 to 1989 Matt was a featured skier at all of the Pro Tour events performing barefoot and freestyle jump exhibitions in front of thousands of fans each weekend. In 1992, at the age of 16, Matt completed one of the most unique placements in the history of the sport. He placed 3rd in the nation in freestyle jumping, traditional jumping, and barefoot jumping.


Congratulations on the USA-WWF Award of Distinction, Matt!






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