One of The Most Decorated Female Water Ski Racers of All Time
Marsha Fitzgerald, known as one of the
most decorated female water ski racers of all time, learned to water ski
when she was 7 years old and entered her first water ski race six years
later. She competed in the Women’s Novice division, and in a sign
of many great things to come, she won the race. It was the beginning of
a remarkable career for Fitzgerald, the first female water ski racer to
be inducted into the American Water Ski Educational Foundation’s Water
Ski Hall of Fame.
Fitzgerald was born in Anniston,
Ala., and moved to Southern California when she was 7 years old
following a summer vacation. Her uncle, Charlie, taught her how to
water ski at his vacation home in Lake Elsinore, Calif., where her
parents eventually relocated. Water skiing became a passion Fitzgerald
soon realized she could not live without. Her desire and obsession
to become the best the United States had to offer and a world champion
drove a career that lasted more than 15 years.
Fitzgerald, who first competed under
her maiden name of Hill, was the dominant female water ski racer
throughout the 1980s, becoming a nine-time national champion. She
was a member of the 1985, 1987 and 1989 U.S. Elite Water Ski Racing
Team. She won the 1989 women’s world water ski racing title and
she was the bronze medalist at the 1985 and 1987 Water Ski Racing World
Championships. In 1986, Fitzgerald became the first and only American
woman to sweep the World Cup of Water Ski Racing, winning titles at the
Catalina Ski Race in Long Beach, Calif., the Giro Del Lario Race on Lake
Como, Italy, and the Botany Bay World Series Races in Sydney, Australia.
Fitzgerald credits her success to the
people who supported her the most. Her parents, John and Pat Hill, and
sister, Debbie, dedicated their lives to helping her obtain her goals.
Once she began competing on an international level, all of their lives
revolved around Fitzgerald’s training and competition schedule.
Her parents owned and maintained a boat similar to the one she competed
behind and her father acted as her trainer and was available at her
beckoned call to train. A typical training session would consist of
Fitzgerald skiing in full competition gear for a solid hour. They
were grueling workouts to say the least and certainly a huge part of her
success. In addition, her competition team consisting of Ron
Tesarski driving his #600 Even Quicker 21’ Hallett Vector and Mike King
observing was considered to be one of the top teams on the circuit as
they proved to be an unbeatable force to be reckoned with. The
trust she had in her training team as well as her competition team
allowed her to only have to concentrate on skiing and being in shape.
They always took care of everything.
“The individual gold medals are
probably what I’m most proud of,” Fitzgerald said at the time of her
induction. “Becoming the 1986 World Cup champion and the 1989 world
champion certainly rank at the top of my list of accomplishments;
however, I think my greatest accomplishment is being inducted into the
AWSEF Water Ski Hall of Fame because it took my entire career to receive
this honor.”
