Legend

Brian Fuchs

By Scott W. Jones AKA "Jonesy"

    Brian Fuchs (pronounced FOX) set  the World Record in wake slalom (20.5 crossings) in the finals of the 1994 Worlds. The next year he retired, leaving all of us in the sport with that same feeling you get an hour after a gorging yourself at a Chinese buffet: we were starving for more. Brian held the record for 18 years ( initially setting the world record in 1989 at age 13 just outside of Orlando, Florida), until 2006, when World Overall Champion Keith St. Onge broke it by 0.1.  Brian was a member on 4 US Teams in 1988,1990,1992,and1994, and was also the world's youngest back barefooter at age 6.  During 1995, Brian spent a lot of time deciding what direction he wanted to go with his life. Brian was running a ski school for the 2 years after he graduated from high school, and was looking at his future and the future of the sport. Brian decided to go to college to play football at the University of Louisiana- Monroe. In 1996, Brian was in a bad car accident. Fortunately, no one was badly hurt but Brian broke some bones in his hand that required him to "red shirt" that year. Brian recovered and went from a walk-on player to a full scholarship punter for the University of Louisiana-Monroe. For Brian's last year of eligibility he  place kicked for East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN .

     Brian now lives in Asheville, NC with his wife Joy, who is an assistant Principal at a local school, and their dog Max. Brian and Joy are expecting their first child next fall. Brian owns and runs several successful companies including Windswept Marketing, Inc. (www.windsweptmarketing.com) , Providence Properties & Investments, LLC and VP Management. I caught Brian at work and he took a few minutes out of his busy day to fill us in on what he's been up to since he retired from barefooting in 1995.

Jonesy:  How did you end up in Asheville, NC ? What are you doing now ?

Brian: When I was living in Johnson City I fell in love with the mountains. My brother Michael was working over in Asheville for a company that specialized in making embroidered emblems and patches for police departments. I worked there for 6 or 8 months and then bought in as a partner. After some philosophical differences I was bought out and that's when I started Windswept Marketing Inc.. I really had a  desire to be a real estate investor and manage properties for long term wealth.  By starting Windswept, it freed up a lot of time for me to become more educated in that field. So in 2002, I started to do that and some real estate investing. Currently, I run Windswept Marketing. It probably takes half my time.  I don't know the exact percentages, but another 30-40 % is spent in real estate investing and the rest spent in property management and a little stock investing.

Jonesy: How long have you been married ?

Brian: I  married Joy in June of  2004, and we have our first child on the way. It's pretty early -we're only 12 weeks into it.

Brian and Joy with Brian's 95 year old Grandmother

Jonesy:  How old where you when you started skiing? At what age did you start barefooting ?

Brian: I started skiing at 4, barefooting at 5,  back barefooting at age 6, and I went open at age 12.

Jonesy: When was your first tournament ?

Brian: 1981, in Melbourne, Florida.  My brother and I showed up with our knee boards, actually I had to use one of the small Styrofoam ones because my legs wouldn't fit around the hydro slide, and we couldn't figure out why we were the only ones with them. We went to the first tournament looking for a used wetsuit that would fit me because the companies didn't make a kids suit back then like they do now. 

Jonesy: Who coached you?

Brian: My Dad, Curtis.

Jonesy: Only your Dad ?

Brian: Yep. I'm not sure if he could even get up on a pair of skis- he did a couple times but he never barefooted himself. He coached from a lot of common sense, talking to others, and finding out what works for you. You begin to create your own style and techniques at a certain level. But originally it was just through reading, talking, and again using some common sense. My Dad was my sole coach the entire time.

Jonesy: Who did you admire the most or look up to when you first got started in the sport?

Brian: I remember the Scarpa/Seipel rivalry. Punky Forgiana was another name that was kind of a feisty skier out there that was fun to watch. Russ Conoley was another guy that was skiing then- anybody that says they try and grip the jump by pushing their toes into it isn't quite right (he says jokingly) , but then again not many of us were. But I didn't look at just one person and say that's who I want to be like or that's who I want to ski like.

Jonesy: Do you still actively barefoot?

Brian: No. I can count on my hand how many times I've been to a lake since I retired and it's usually just to ride around.

Jonesy: Do you miss the sport?

Brian: I owe a lot to the sport. It was a tremendous blessing to me and it enabled me to do all kinds of things. I virtually traveled around the world before I was 12, and I got to make some decent money doing it and meet some great people. But when I made the decision to retire in 95 it was time to move on. It is what I chose to do and I never looked back. I haven't missed it one bit and have no regrets. There were some great opportunities and some great experiences that made me grow up pretty quickly.

Jonesy:  What can you tell me about your experience with the 1988 World team?

Brian: That '88 team was a great story in itself, and how the final team was chosen is even better.

We went to Melbourne, Australia as a 10 member team that was to be narrowed down to 8 people just before the Worlds started. Long story short, after being convinced by some of the decision makers that I would be a skiing member and our weeks of practice prior to the tournament, I was informed that I was too young to be able to handle the pressure, and therefore would be an alternate. This coming after winning the open men's slalom and setting a pending World Record at the Nationals just months before. Needless to say, this made the experience one of the lower points of my career. But as He usually does, God had a bigger plan, and while I was there in the stands watching my team compete, I was approached by Flightcraft of Australia and that relationship formed into a wonderful sponsorship. It later moved to Malibu Boats when they began producing the Flightcraft in the United States.

Jonesy:  When you look back, what accomplishments stick out the most?

Brian: Beating the backwards barefoot record at age 6 was pretty impressive and then I actually helped my neighbor beat that record later on. Also, being one of the first 4 or 5 skiers in the world to trick over 6,000 points was a great mile stone. But probably the most gratifying to me was the Worlds in '94 (where I broke my own Slalom World Record and won the slalom event) mainly because of what if took for me to get there. I skied several Worlds before where I did very well in the prelims then couldn't quite put it together in the finals. I had one in England, where I thought I had won, even to the point of being interviewed by BBC television as the World Champion, but due to a speedometer malfunction, some re-rides and video review, I ended up in second place. I think being able to put it together knowing it was going to be my last Worlds, to do it under pressure in the finals, and set a World record was the ultimate accomplishment.  I think the neatest thing was after I was officially crowned World Champion in 1994,  Brett Sands came up to me and said," When you were going down I thought you were going backwards first because I counted 10 crossings, so when I saw you coming back and you were backwards not forwards I knew I was done."

An interesting sidebar to the record is that it originally was 21 crossings. It got knocked down to 20.5 because on one crossing the video frame was too slow to capture Brian's transition. In essence,  he was so fast he transitioned in less than one frame and it couldn't be captured on video. So they cut .5 because the WBC couldn't prove whether he did or didn't set down early.

Jonesy: How old were you when you set the World Record?

Brian: I initially set the World Record in 1989 when I was 13 years old.  I honestly do not remember, but either increased it once or twice between setting the final world record at the World Championships in Sydney, Australia in the final round of the 1994 World Championships.

Another interesting sidebar: Brian held the world record since 1989 (18 years !) first at 19.0. The only person to come close  was a tie by Brett Sands in 1990, then Brian bettered it in 1991 at 19.5 and finally 20.5 in 1994.

Jonesy:  How does it feel to have your World Record finally broken?

Brian: I didn't even know it had been broken until about 6 months ago. I forget who called to tell me. I heard Keith went down to South Africa or something to try and beat it. You know every record is meant to be broken and I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.  I'm just very satisfied that I did it under the conditions I did, not the water (conditions), but the pressure of the finals at the Worlds.

Brian and Brett Sands sign autographs                     

Jonesy: Who was your toughest competition when you where competing?

Brian: There were so many other skiers who I competed against that were top notch that it wouldn’t be fair to pick one out.  I will say that the rivalry that was the most fun to me was the one I had with Brett Sands of Australia in the slalom event for a number of years.

Jonesy: Who do you think would be your toughest competition today?

Brian: So Keith St.Onge is the guy to beat today ? He sounds like the guy.

Jonesy: What advice would you give to a young person just getting into the sport?

Brian: The biggest thing would be to have persistence, and keep it fun. That's something my Dad was really good at: when to push and when not to. If  you don't have somebody to help direct you and encourage you, no matter how talented you are you're not going to hit your potential. Even though my Mom wasn't "coaching" me on the water she was a great balance with her support. Also, set goals and achieve them, and find something you love and stick with it.

Jonesy: What would you have done differently if you go back and do it again?

Brian: I don't think I would change a thing.  Along with my skiing, I had a very normal childhood playing other sports that I enjoyed such as baseball and football.  Even when things were tough, it was such a learning experience about life; one you cannot learn in the classroom. That's why I moved on and as I look back , I couldn't have timed it any better. If it weren't  for having to make the decision to either play football or continue skiing, it may not have been so easy to retire. But I wanted other things in my life, making it easier to move on.

Jonesy: What made you stop competing in the sport?

Brian: In 1995, I was doing a lot of negotiating back and forth with the NCAA trying to find out if I could keep my sponsors and still play an NCAA sport.  I was told that I could not have income from my sponsors and play NCAA division I football. My attorney told me I could go to court and probably win because it was a real grey area, but it would be pretty expensive. So, I chose at that time to retire because I had other goals in life.

Brian and Jon Kretchman

Jonesy: Do you think the sport is dying?

Brian:   I have not kept up with the sport since retiring in 1995, so I have no idea what has happened since then.   When I retired it seemed that interest was on a decline based on tournament attendance, but I really don’t have any factual numbers to support that.  It is a great family sport, and one that was a great blessing to me, and I know to many others as well.

Jonesy: What direction or improvements do you think we could implement to generate more interest with kids today?

Brian: That is a tough question, but I know from the time I got into the sport in 1981 until I retired in 1995, there were huge gains made in bringing kids into the sport.  When I began you could not get wetsuits, handles  etc. made for kids.  As a matter of fact, while I was growing up I used to make kid's handles that had cut down handle grips etc. so kids could actually use them.  Now they are common place.  Obviously the more family involvement you can put into any sport, the more of a chance you have of attracting all age groups. 

Jonesy: So what do you do now as far as hobbies or other interests ?

Brian: As far as current hobbies, my entire life is a hobby. I love the real estate investing,  hunting for deals, and working through them. I enjoy golfing, and play some racquetball and tennis with Joy from time to time. We love putting the top down and just driving around the mountains. It is just gorgeous here (of course looking for real estate deals). We are active in our church and have put together a variety of service projects and social events to bring people together for a good cause, etc.  I plan on getting more involved with some white water rafting this summer as this is the place to do it, and it's something I have done very little with to this point.

Brian's Mom and Dad ( Curtis and Shirley )         

Jonesy: Is there anyone you would like to thank?

Brian: My parents would be the first on the list, it's not a cheap sport, and it hits me more now than when I was going through it. There were some sacrifices that were made to allow me to have the opportunity. For example, we changed houses so we could live on a lake to train. The hours that my father took off work and the hours that he took away from the rest of the family to train, and what my mom went through dealing with all of it was a huge family sacrifice. My brothers were always there to support by videoing practices, and sometimes I know they dreaded it but they still did it. It's things you look back on because when you're in the middle of it and ,so to speak , the center of attention, it's easy to over look those things.

Two of my major sponsors were Malibu Boats and Mercury Outboards, and we were extremely loyal to each other. The list could go on and on with different sponsors and people that helped us out, but if I started naming them I'd forget someone for sure and I don't want to do that.

Beyond just a coach, I don't mean to keep going on and on about my father, but he was my PR guy, and manager too. I was able to get some of the best sponsorship deals that the sport offered and we went out of our way to promote them . Above all, I thank God for giving me the opportunity and ability to do what I did as well as what I continue to do.  He continues to bless me beyond my wildest imagination.

Brian can be reached at  brian@windsweptmarketing.com

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