LOCAL SKIING LEGEND, PIONEER LOOKS BACK

By Livia Knecht
Journal Intern 
    When you think of water-skiing legends, who do you think of? Most people when asked this question probably wouldn’t even know of any ‘skiing legends’ at all, but what if there was one closer than you think?
    That person is Jon Kretchman. Jon was born right here in Britton, SD, and his parents owned a lake cabin on Clear Lake. He now lives in Fargo, ND, and still comes up to Clear Lake regularly in the summer.
    Jon was born into a family of water skiers. Both his mother, Janet Kretchman, and father, Chuck Kretchman, water skied. All three of his older siblings skied as well, so naturally he did too. Jon first skied at age four and was taught how to barefoot ski by his brother Len Kretchman when he was only eight. He had already entered his first barefooting tournament when he was 13!
    For those who don’t know what barefooting is, it is a type of water skiing where the skier is -as the name suggests- barefoot. The skier starts holding onto the rope, and has their feet wrapped around the rope. Then, once they are going fast enough, they put their feet on the top of the water and stand.
    Not only was Jon a very young barefooter, but also a very good one. In 1987, at 14, he attended his first national championship. At the time he didn’t jump. He explains he thought it was, “dangerous at the time and did not look like much fun,” but when Jon started jumping due to competition requirements, he instantly fell in love with it.
    The winter of 1990-1991 is when Jon first learned to use the inverted style of jumping. This way of jumping off the ramp was invented by Mike Seipel.
    Seipel mentored Jon when he was young, and taught Jon the style down in Florida. Jon said, “I had several people that I admired from reading about them in Spray and Water Ski Magazines.  Mike helped me a lot in my younger years.  He is who I set my sights on being able to beat.” And beat him he did.
    At the 1991 National Championships in Houston, TX, Jon set the World Jump Record. He jumped an incredible length of 87 feet 5 inches! The previous record, 76 feet 4 inches, was held by Seipel. Jon was one of only a few to land an inverted style jump at the time, and also helped to refine the style of jumping. He beat the record seven more times in his career.
    Along with his eight jumping records, Jon also broke the Tricks world record once. He is the only one as of 2018 to have completed 360 jump off the ramp, score a wake to wake 360 in a tournament, and was the first to complete feet to feet toe turns in a tournament.
    Jon was in an astounding 14 National Championships and was the Champion in Jumping four times. He competed on five World Champion Teams and coached three of them. He was in three X-Games and only missed a fourth due to a broken leg during training.
    Jon still barefoots once or twice a summer, “just to make sure I can still do it,” he quipped. He explained that as you get older barefooting takes more of a toll on your body since it is very physical.
    Jon had help from many people along the way. Some of them he listed are his mom Janet for teaching him how to ski, and “how to be tough;” his cousin Jeff Kretchman for pulling him skiing extensively when he was a kid; his brother Len; Mark Cory and Joe Knapp his skiing partners; The whole Kretch crew (a group of his students); and The Bramlett family down in Jacksonville, FL.
     Most of all he thanks his dad, Chuck. In Jon’s words he, “funded a ton of gas and trips to tournaments over the years.  He also videotaped all my jumps sets, which was critical for my training.  He never required performance measures and provided unwavering support no matter what the results were.”
    In 2018, Jon was inducted into the Water Ski Hall of Fame, receiving the Award of Distinction.
    Now when asked if you know of any skiing legends, you will know of one. You will know of one named Jon Kretchman.