Scot Ellis selected as 2025 inductee into the USA Water Ski & Wake Sports Foundation Hall of Fame
Image: USA Water Ski & Wake Sports Foundation
The USA Water Ski & Wake Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee is pleased to announce the 2025 inductee to the USA Water Ski & Wake Sports Foundation Hall of Fame Scot Ellis will be formally enshrined at the USA Water Ski & Wake Sports Foundation Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday, May 3, 2025.
Scot Ellis’ love for water skiing began as a kid in Central Florida when he happened to catch a show by the Lakeland Water Ski Club. At age 7, he was a member of that Lakeland show team, and at 8, he was skiing three events, too.
Used to playing team sports where you might get one trophy at the end of a long season, Ellis won his first three-event water ski trophy and never looked back. “I could walk away with four trophies every weekend,” he says, “and I was hooked.”
Most of those trophies eventually came in jumping, but Ellis was more than capable in slalom and was an overall skier into the 1990s. His breakout came at the 1988 Junior Water Ski World Championships. Without a major victory to his name yet, Ellis went to Australia and won gold in slalom and overall, silver in jumping and bronze in tricks.
They soon knew his name when he broke into the pro ranks in 1990, winning four events and the tour title right off the bat as a 19-year-old. During an era when pro ski tournaments were shown on ESPN and extreme sports were booming in popularity, Ellis was like a literal rock star.
Over three decades at the elite level, Ellis was a 10-time World Cup champion, 10-time Pro Tour champion, 3-time Moomba Masters champion, 3-time Australian Open champion, and 2-time Moomba Masters Night Jump champion. He also won professional jump titles at the U.S. Masters, U.S. Open, and Italian Open. Throughout his career, he set 14 U.S. national jumping records.
At the 2021 IWWF World Waterski Championships, Ellis, at age 50, made the finals and finished in a tie for 10th place. It was his final major tournament before retiring a few weeks later.
Huge Congratulations to Scott… we can’t wait to celebrate with him on May 3, 2025, at the Nora Mayo Hall in Winter Haven, Florida! Tickets go on sale on January 1, and sponsorship details will be released soon… we hope to see you there!
