Family Getaways 2008 - (Page 35) Floridians Who Walked on Water, Sort Of • In 1957, Miguel Garcia trained at Cypress Gardens for his attempt to ski from Havana to Key West. His first try failed, but he was later successful and upon arrival in Key West, was greeted by a parade. • Lakeland’s Florida Southern College created the first class (and professor) of water skiing when Glenn Kirkpatrick was named Professor of Skiology. • Dick Pope Jr. invented barefoot skiing when he took a foot off one ski and put it on the water. Cypress Gardens later launched a style of barefoot skiing that started while standing on the beach. The next weekend, more than 800 people showed up to watch. The longest-running water-ski show in the world has since evolved many times, with skiers performing more daring tricks, breaking their own world records and climbing higher and higher on top of each other’s shoulders to build a five-person-high pyramid on skis. “It’s NASCAR on water,” says Nancy Daley, Cypress Gardens Adventure Park special projects manager and a former ski performer. Dick Pope Jr. was the initial star, pioneering a sport then still a novelty. He was the first man photographed barefooting in 1947, won four consecutive national overall water-skiing titles and later introduced a line of ski products designed for water ski professionals and the consumer market. But it was his father, Dick Pope Sr., who masterminded glamorous and sometimes audacious publicity shots – including one newsreel of a performer skiing with a piano – that brought the sport to mainstream consciousness in the 1950s. He sent images and newsreels to newspapers, magazines and television stations around the globe, creating an international buzz and drawing movie crews and film stars such as Elvis Presley, Rat Packer Peter Lawford and actress Esther Williams. In the 1950s, even the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlevi, and his wife, Soraya, came to learn. “With all the tremendous publicity – the photos, films, TV – the Popes brought the whole world here,” says Lane “Dawg” Bowers, a champion water-skier who owns Footers Edge Ski School in Winter Haven. “There’s no question that they put Florida on the map.” Cover page, vintage shot of Cypress Gardens, 1957. This page top left, a modern ski show at Cypress Gardens. Above right, a Three Girl Pyramid at Cypress Gardens in 1957. All vintage photos courtesy shorpy.com. “They’re easy once you get the hang of them, so don’t be afraid to try.” -Dick Pope Sr. Family Getaways 35 http://www.shorpy.com
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