Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prescott Native Skiis To Top of Profession; Ranked No. 1

Sometimes things are going so well you just don't want them to end.

This is how Wade Cox felt about the professional water skiing season this year.

And, it's no wonder, Cox, who hails from Prescott, ended the year rated the best in the world.

"I didn't want to see it end," he said of the season. "It was fun to go to the tournaments when I was the favorite. It's a new experience, and I like being the favorite."

Being the favorite, or No. 1 seed, allows the top skier to be the last one to make the run. He knows what the competition has done and what he has to do.

"I like that," Cox said, "knowing what all the others have done. I had the confidence to be in that position and go out and win.

"There have been times I wasn't sure I wanted to be the top seed, but Lindsey (his wife) along with my coaches helped me create the confidence to be an individual and not have anyone else to rely on.

"I seldom feel like I'm competing with someone else."

Because of this, he said, in the last four years, from 1992-95, there have been only three or four times he's skied to his potential and lost. "I feel if I ski as good as I can, no one can beat me. That makes it fun and unique. I enjoy it more every year."

While the pro ski tour literally circles the globe, Cox's favorite place to ski is close to home, and has turned into "THE" tournament the top skiers want to win -- the Shreveport Tournament of Champions.

Cox had three straight second place finishes in the T of C on Champion Lake before breaking through this year. He said he has "home field advantage" there because it's so close to home -- relatively speaking.

"I have a lot of home support there," he said.

In years past, the Tournament of Champions was an invitational competition. However, once it became a pro tourney, it was open to all skiers.

"It's still considered the one to win," he said. "The scores there are higher than in any other tourney in the world.

"Winning there means you've beaten the best at their best. The conditions are good, and everybody believes they should score high."

Cox said there have been skiers who have turned in scores at the Shreveport, La. event that would have been good enough to win other contests. However, there they weren't good enough to get into the money rounds.

His least favorite event is the U.S. Open. Like golf's version, the skiing Open rotates from place to place.

Cox said he has a love-hate relationship with this event. He's lost the last four Opens by a total of 1/2 a buoy.

"I've had a constant struggle with it," he said. "Everyone wants to win the U.S. Open. It's the big one and it's been tough."

However, he said the biggest event on the tour is the U.S. Masters. Again, like its golfing counterpart, the Masters is by invitation only to the top five in the world. Other competitors must come by way of tournament wins.

Cox again had a hard time breaking into the top spot in the Masters after three consecutive second place finishes before winning it this season. "It was the most gratifying win of all."

As it is in other professional sports, careers are short-lived. Cox said he wants to continue skiing professionally as long as he's a contender. "I've been at the top too long to just be a contender," he said.

He continued saying he could keep skiing professionally for another seven or eight years, because, unlike other sports, skiers tend to reach their peaks later.

"We're (skiers) unique in the fact slalom skiers reach their peak when they peak physically (normally between the ages of 28-30). How fast they get there and how long they stay depends on mental maturity," he said.

According to Cox, once a skier reaches the age of 33, it becomes hit or miss what they can do day-in and day-out.

Cox has a while to go before worrying about this, though, as he only turns 27 next season.

"If I could stay seven more years it would be fantastic," he said. "But then I have to go out and find a real job. Skiing is full-time now."

Full-time is a mild way of saying this. From January till March, skiing's off season, Cox is on the road each weekend doing promotions and boat shows for his sponsors.

Ski season opens in April. This year, Cox competed in 21 tournaments, which meant even more travel. So far this year, Cox has traveled about 70,000 miles.

"We (professional skiers) travel a lot," he said, "all over the place. Travel is tough. It's not glamorous like they make it seem."

He said several members of the tour, with him included, once traveled from Dallas, Texas to London, then to Paris, back to Florida (for one day) and then to California.

During this time, they shared rooms and rental cars. "We plan our travel as cheap as possible," he said. "But I never take it for granted. It's a fantastic life. I've been to more places and seen more things than most will in a lifetime."

Cox began skiing at the age of four, entering tournaments at 10. He said becoming a pro was never considered, and just kind of evolved.

"I grew up on the lake," he said. "We spent all summer on either Greeson or DeGray. My mom's brother had skied some tournaments in the late '60s and early '70s. My grandmother on my mother's side convinced me to ski in a tournament. It got bigger each year.

"But there was no plan behind it. At one time, my dad (Larry Cox) planned for me to use skiing to get a college scholarship."

Cox did earn a college scholarship from his skiing, and attended the University of Central Florida in Orlando for a while. It was at UCF he began dating the woman who would become Mrs. Wade Cox -- Lindsey.

She said the two first met and became friends while they were attending Leesburg High School.

The two didn't see one another for two or three years and ran into each other at UCF. They began dating and, after four years, decided to get married.

"It was scary," Lindsey said of getting married. "It's still scary."

She said the reasons for being scared come from being alone so much while Wade's on the tour.

Lindsey taught elementary school for three years before returning to college and earning her degree in massage therapy.

Her work keeps her at home, while Wade travels the circuit. However, this will be changing this season, as Lindsey plans on accompanying her husband to the "better" places on the tour, especially to California.

In the meantime, though, she has a horse she spends time with, and they have two dogs. Wade has a chocolate Labrador, while Lindsey's dog is a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, a short-haired version of a Saint Bernard.

Additionally, she takes English riding lessons and is considering entering shows, but doesn't pl