CAM McARTHUR: 
Skier, Coach, Father & Teacher
By Paul Jurbala

Some people are just always there. You can feel it when they're missing
as a sort of indefinable wrongness, like when an old friend suddenly
appears without glasses or a moustache.  Something's wrong, but you're
not sure what. That's what water skiing in Ontario would be like
without Cam McArthur.

Cam's been involved in water skiing since he was 11 years old. He grew
up with it, and it with him. In our profile of Judy Messer in the last
issue, she identified Cam as the person who got she and her brothers
(the McClintocks) going in competition. How many others would have
missed their opportunity in our sport, if not for Cam?

Cam has seen it all.  He was repeatedly Canadian Champion and a member
of the National Team (with typical modesty, Cam points out he was "an
alternate" for three Worlds).  But a conversation with him reveals
that, more than anything, he typifies the roots of Canadian water
skiing ... families discovering an exciting new activity and adopting
it as their own. And there's something very Canadian about Cam, a quiet
primary school teacher, member of the OWSA board of directors, father
of four boys (Dan and Dave compete), and in the summer, director of
Pleasant Bay Camp.

Here's a bit of Canadian water ski history, as lived by Cam McArthur:

OWS: How did you get going in water skiing, anyway?

CM: "My grandmother had a cottage on Puslinch Lake, and the family
would gather there. There was already some skiing there at the time
(1954). When I was eleven, my cousin came out with a boat and some
skis, so I tried and got up first time - and I just loved it.

Most of our summer was spent at the lake, so we kept at it. We made our
own skis: I remember using boiling water to soften the tips of some
wood skis we made so we could bend them up.  We made the bindings out
of inner tubes.  One day a fellow named George Gruetzner came out with
trick skis, and I tried them, too."

OWS: And how did you get into competition?

CM: "I would go anywhere to see water skiing. I went to the CNE to
watch the Aquarama. In those days they were bringing really good skiers
up from Cypress Gardens. And they had some competitions there, as well,
which I saw. So we went back to the lake with what we saw.  I remember
when I was about 15, we built our own jump out of plywood and old doors
- it was a terrible thing! Anyway, my first competition was when I was
15, at Caledonia, and there I met some good skiers like the Filions and
Claude Dupuy from Quebec, George Deniston, Pat Shearer.  Afterward,
someone approached my dad, Tom, to see if we would host a tournament at
Puslinch, and we did - my dad always encouraged us."

OWS: Why skiing and not some other sport? What was it about water
skiing that fascinated you?

CM: "I just loved to ski...I started snow skiing when I was about 2.
And the fact that I picked it up quickly helped. There were so many
challenges, so many things to try - jumping, barefoot."

OWS: What were some of the high points of your competitive career?

CM: "Well, I remember the first time I jumped over 100 feet - 109 feet
at Lac St Joseph. They were choosing a team for the 1961 Worlds at Long
Beach, California, and after my jump someone told me it would be good
enough for me to be named an alternate for that team. I was named again
for Vichy in 1963. And I won many Ontario and regional events which I
can't remember the dates of. I won the Canadian Championships for the
first time in 1975 in Calgary - I set a jump record of 133'- and then I
won the next two years in a row."

OWS: You've also had a long career as an instructor and coach...

CM: "Yes, we started the Cam-An Ski School (now the McClintock Ski
School) at Puslinch in '68, mostly to keep the McClintock kids skiing
while their parents were at work...the McClintocks started skiing at
the lake around 1965, and they came out to watch the Worlds in 1967. I
remember watching them jump, at about age 6 - they'd disappear
altogether when they reached the ramp, and you wouldn't see them again
until they cleared, they were so small. They would ski at the school
every day, and sometimes we would have other students as well.  Anyway,
I was also an instructor at the Ontario Water Ski Instructors Course,
and I did a cross-country tour with George Athans in 1970, putting on
clinics.

I was at the first Canada Summer Games as an athlete in 1969, then I
was Ontario coach at the Games in 1973 and 1977. And I'm thinking about
the 1997 Canada Games, but I'm so busy with our summer camp, I just
don't know."

OWS: What are some of your favourite memories?

CM: "Well, I remember trying to help the McClintocks along - once I
wrote to Ralph Meloon (owner of Correct Craft, the builders of Ski
Nautique boats) telling him these kids had potential and asking for a
boat. And when the Grahams started coming out to the lake...Barbara
Graham had potential, we tried to encourage her, and their dad Wes
would be out there filming it all. Every time little Susi would come
up, her dad would say, "Look - she'll fall at ball 1 again," and she
did. Now she's the World Record holder...

I think my greatest thrill was seeing Joel McClintock win the World
Championship at Long Pond (Toronto in 1979.  Long Pond will also be the
site of the 1997 Worlds). I remember seeing him late out of ball 1 and
thinking, `Oh, no, Joel...' but somehow he pulled it together again.
And when he won, just to think I had, you know, contributed in some
way..."

It's safe to say that without the Cam McArthurs, who spent the time to
encourage newcomers and share with them the love of water skiing in the
1960's and 70's, Canada's World Championship victories of 1991 and 1993
would never have happened. What glories lie ahead if we can continue to
tap into that spirit of selfless contribution?