By Jack Burden

JD Wiswall, a former junior world champion and professional jumper, has passed away at the age of 52 after a long battle with cancer. The Alabama native displayed incredible talent from a young age, breaking numerous records as he advanced through the junior ranks, and collecting a number of national, collegiate, and world titles along the way.

A U.S. national record holder in both junior slalom and jump, Wiswall was selected to represent Team USA at the inaugural Under-17 World Championships, where he became the first-ever junior world jump champion. Two years later, he would replicate that feat by defending his title at the second edition on the Yarra River, making him one of only four skiers to this day to win multiple junior world jump titles. In total, he won five medals across the two World Championships, finishing as the runner-up in overall at both tournaments.

Wiswall attended Northern Louisiana University (NLU), now the University of Louisiana Monroe, where he helped the NLU Indians reclaim the national title after they had experienced their first loss in a decade, securing individual jump and overall titles in 1990.

A brash and confident competitor, Wiswall’s performance at the 1991 NCWSA Nationals became legendary. Jumping with heavily bruised ribs from a slalom crash the previous day, “Turbo,” as his teammates called him, took to the water as the second-to-last skier of the tournament, needing an outright win to secure the team’s title. After posting the leading score on jump one, he stared down the final skier, University of Central Florida’s (UCF) John Swanson, and yelled, “I’m your worst nightmare!”

Swanson, however, was up for the challenge, winning the jump title and guiding UCF to their first ever team title. The Wiswall-Swanson rivalry would go down as one of the most epic in collegiate water ski history.

Wiswall’s best performances came at the slower speed and ramp height of junior and collegiate competitions, where his aggressive style was used to maximum advantage. However, he also had success in the elite ranks, winning the 1989 World Games, Open Men’s jump at the 1994 U.S. National Championships, and regularly competing on the Bud Water Ski Tour through the mid-1990s.

He remained engaged in the sport until the end, attending the last two World Championships as a spectator. During the 2021 World Championships, he expressed his excitement and anticipation in an interview with FlowPoint TV, hoping to see the first woman jump 200 feet.

A fierce and intense competitor on the water, but a gentle and kind soul off it, Wiswall will be greatly missed.