Andy Mapple was one of most successful water-skiers in the history of the sport, often described as the greatest slalom skier of all time. A Lancastrian, but based in Florida for most of his career, he won his first world title at the age of 18 and went on to win five more over the next 20 years.
In all, he won around 170 professional slalom events, more than anyone before or since. He broke 11 world records in slalom, for weaving at high speed, often nearly horizontal, around a course of buoys. He also won 14 US Masters titles and 10 US Open championships in a pro career spanning 23 years.
Mapple, who died suddenly at the age of 52, 10 years after he retired from professional competition, was considered the “godfather” of the sport, helping it grow from a weekend pastime for the better-off to a sport whose aficionados – and the International Water Ski Federation – feel should be included in the Olympic Games. It featured as a demonstration sport at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, with Britons Ian Walker, Paul Seaton (Mapple's first coach) and Karen Morse competing and a nine-year-old Andy watching the TV wide-eyed in Lancashire.
Although he specialised in slalom, he also helped develop other water-ski categories including ski flying, tricks and ski jumping. With his good looks, intense blue eyes and signature outside turn on the skis, he was also a mentor to many younger competitors.
Andrew Mapple was born in 1962 in Lytham St Annes, by the sea in the Fylde borough of Lancashire. He grew up in the village of Warton, near Lancaster. He went to Carr Hill High School in Kirkham, Lancashire, and began water skiing at the age of 13 on Fairhaven Lake, now a popular resort close to his birthplace in Lytham, and on Lake Windermere.
At the time, he had a fear of water and could not swim. “I hated water. My older sister Susan learned to ski and I was convinced to have a go. I had a wetsuit on, life vest and I think even a flotation belt. I was not going under! I will never forget that feeling of going across the water. From that first moment, all I wanted to do was ski.”
After his first world championship win at the age of 18 he moved to Florida, married Deena Brush – a multiple world water-ski champion and now known as Deena Brush Mapple – and settled near Disney World in Orlando, considered something of a mecca for water-skiing. He honed his skills at the water-ski school near Orlando run by the 11-time women's world champion Liz Allan, a legend in the sport. “I remember the skinny kid with the English accent who was so keen to learn and whose ability was immediately obvious,” Allan said.
Mapple drove Allan's water-ski boats to help pay for his lessons and lodging. “Liz was a huge influence on a lot of people's lives,” he once said. “She was very good at the mental aspect of the sport, more than just the technique. Before the pro tour days, the Liz Allan Superstars tournament was one of the major events in the sport. That was the event to try to get into back in the day. It was an invitational, so trying to get into it was like trying to get into the Masters today.”
After retiring from the professional sport at the age of 42, Mapple concentrated on teaching and helping design, research and develop new skis and equipment. In 2012 he founded and became president of the Orlando-based Mapple Skis, which makes and sells water skis worldwide. He also ran water-ski courses.
According to his friend Kenton Smith, former editor of Waterski magazine: “Andy was a world-class guy in every respect, loved by all who knew him, a fan favourite because he stayed humble and always made time to talk to people.”
Mapple once said: “One of my greatest honours came in 2002 when I received an OBE from the Queen for services to sport, an honour for me and my family but also an honour for the sport of water-skiing. My passion for water-skiing is as great today as it was when I started although my role has changed now. I worked so hard to become a champion. Now I want to help build champions at all levels in the sport.”
In blogs and tweets by stunned extreme sportsmen and women around the world, the word most used to describe Mapple was “the GOAT” – the greatest of all time. He had become a devout Christian, attending Baptist churches with his family in Florida. The cause of his death was not immediately clear. He is survived by his wife Deena and their son and daughter.
PHIL DAVISON
Andrew Mapple, water-skier: born Lytham St Annes, Lancashire 3 November 1962; OBE 2002; married 1987 Deena Brush (one daughter, one son); died Orlando, Florida 22 August 2015.
