Legend

John Gillette

Written by Teri Jones AKA "Teri Larson"

Interview by Scott W. Jones AKA "Jonesy"

In 1980, a book was published that would change my life forever. The book was Barefooting by John Gillette. I carried that book around for 3 years to the disdain of most of my teachers. I must have read that book 1,000 times during class! I remember the picture of Peter Lindenburg of South Africa jumping in a motorcycle helmet and thinking, “I’ll never do that! It’s insane!” I also came up with the crazy idea to learn to back barefoot from John's book, because my boat would only go 26mph and it said you could barefoot backwards slower. After a black eye from trying it off a hydroslide, I gave up that pipe dream. But in my early days of barefooting, every trick I attempted I studied in John’s book first. It’s amazing that more skiers today haven’t read or even heard about John’s book. I was honored to interview one of my heroes in our sport in July 2007.

My first impression of John in one word is “humble”. John thinks it is funny that he was so well known throughout the barefoot world in the 1970s and 80s; not because of his barefooting but because of the articles he wrote. John said he had to work hard at barefooting, and claimed that he wasn’t a gifted athlete because there were guys who were better that worked at it a lot less. For example, John explained that Mike Botti did pictures for his book and nailed a front to back one ski jump out. I find this a little humorous considering that John was doing toe turns and attempting line backs in the 1970’s.

Some Background

John competed on the first two U.S. barefoot teams in the first two World Barefoot Tournaments (Australia in 1978, Redwood City, CA 1980) and coached the U.S. team in Acapulco in 1982. He was hired to coach the German team a couple times in the early 1980s. John performed in the Sea World ski show from 1977 to 1984, and was employed by Correct Craft from 1984 to 1991 with positions in marketing and management.  John married in 1984 to his wife Ann. “Ann was not a skier, but I got her to ski on our first anniversary.”  They moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1991 to assist in starting a new church.

Today, John is very active in his church and very busy working as an operations manager for a marketing company. Johns family includes, his Wife Ann; daughter Sarah, 20yrs.; daughter Ivy 18yrs; and son hunter, 13yrs. They have lived in Charlotte, NC for the last 16 yrs. John’s daughter Sarah was married August 4, 2007 to an Australian wakeboarder and surfer who is going to a pastor’s college in Maryland.

John’s Interview

Jonesy:  How old were you when you started skiing, and at what age did you start barefooting?

JG: I learned to ski at about age 12 or 13.  I fell in love with the sport and pursued it all I could, but there were no advanced skiers in the area.  I saw the real stuff during visits to Cypress Gardens and occasionally a ski club would do shows in the area.  I remember watching the Masters on ABC Wide World of Sports and seeing Ricky McCormick finishing his slalom run with a tic toc. I’ve been trying them ever since, and that is how I dislocated my shoulder this summer!  I pursued the sport hard and tried to teach myself all I could.   I learned to barefoot around age 14 or 15 from exposure through Cypress Gardens shows, AWSA membership, and through local skier friends. At the time I had no instructional material; I was just going out and trying it. From there I joined a local ski club and entered a few slalom tournaments. As a high school graduation gift I went to Jim McCormick’s ski school to work the slalom course and learn how to jump.  I went to Florida Southern College the fall of 1973 and competed on the 3-event team, but kept pursuing barefooting.  The 3-event skiing helped my barefooting, particularly trick skiing.  When I graduated I could trick 3000 points, run 15 off in the slalom course, and jump 130 feet. During my college years I learned 360 tumbles, back barefoot, back deepwater starts, back-to-front and back toeholds.  Barefooting was a side interest, but I was one of the first few guys to earn a Masters barefoot rating.  As I recall, some of the more difficult things the rating required were a 10 minute barefoot ride, back toehold, tumbleturn start and back-to-front.  The 10 minute ride was tough!  I highly respect Billy Nichols’ 2 hour and 44 minute record!

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

JG: Ricky McCormick. I thought he was the coolest guy from a skier standpoint. I also admired Don Thompson, a Cypress Gardens skier who could do a front to back. After qualifying to compete in the Cypress Gardens first National Barefoot Championships in 1973, I met Mike Botti, Bill Price, and the top Aussie footers at the time including Gary Barton, Peter Trim, and John Hacker.  These guys fueled my barefoot interest. Gary Barton was recognized as the top barefooter in the world during the 1970s. Although barefooting originated in Winter Haven, Florida, and was promoted by Cypress Gardens and Dick Pope, the Australians in the 1970s started organizing the sport and exceeding what the U.S. barefooters were doing. They innovated back deeps, back toe holds, and wake slalom in competition. 

Jonesy: Tell me when you became involved in the ABC and how did that come about?

JG: 1978. At this time, barefooting was starting to get organized, as Australia was planning the first worlds in November that year.  John Hacker visited the States in about 1977 and stirred up interest in the world championships that Australia was planning in the fall of 1978. So, the U.S. needed to organize some tournaments to select a team if we were going to participate.  Bruce Kistler and Bill Price were the impetus to get the ABC started. I was very involved both as a competitor and administrator, so in 1978 I was appointed as the first vice president of the ABC with Bill Price who was the first president. In August 1978, the U.S. held its first nationals in Waco, Texas, and selected its first barefoot team. Barefooting took off from there. In 1980 I was elected as the ABC president.  I also served on the World Barefoot Council around 1980-82.

Jonesy: There was a lot of debate over the jump event. Do you still take the same stance that you did when you were president of the ABC?

JG: My stance then was that many people were getting involved with jumping, and I had concerns about people getting hurt on the ramp. There were questions about who was qualified to jump, what divisions, etc. It is dangerous, more dangerous than ski jumping because of the possibility of catching a toe in front of the ramp. The catastrophic nature of these falls weren’t worth the benefit of the event overall. I met a guy who is a quadriplegic from breaking his neck falling on the ramp and learned of two others.  Seeing guys catch a toe and slam headfirst on the ramp then lay unconscious in the water…this is what prompted my efforts to limit who could jump. If it was open to guys who were experienced barefooters and in great physical condition I had no problem with that.  I wasn’t into promoting it for the masses. 

Jonesy: Did you ever jump?

JG: Yes, I jumped for the first time at Ed Finley’s Louisiana tournament in 1977 and most tournaments I competed in from the Nationals in 1978 through the Nationals in 1982 when I retired from competition. I never owned a barefoot jump, but practiced a few times with Rob Beman and Ron Scarpa.  I didn’t think it was wise to promote it for all divisions at all tournaments. It needed to be exclusive to the open skiers who knew how to do it.

Jonesy: How did you come up with the idea to write your book?

JG: Terry Snow, publisher of World Publications, gets the credit for the book. I met Terry through intercollegiate skiing.  He started World Publications in 1979 and asked me to write a feature article on the history of barefooting for their inaugural issue.  A little later he had the book idea and paid me to write it.  It was a case of being in the right place at the right time and knowing the right people…one of those things you couldn’t orchestrate yourself if you tried.  Some people call it “dumb luck.”  I call it God’s sovereign kindness on this undeserving barefoot enthusiast.  English was one of my worst subjects.  Later I was asked to write a monthly column in Spray, and eventually wrote the second edition of Barefooting in 1987. 

Jonesy: How long did it take to write?

JG: Six months.

Jonesy: How many copies were sold, and are there any still available?

JG: Roughly 10,000 copies of each edition were printed. There are about 30 copies still sitting in my basement. No new copies are being made, but I saw one for sale on Amazon for 25 cents!

Jonesy: Do you still keep in touch with any of the people in the book?

JG: Yes. I still contact Mike Botti about once a year. We’ve had a great friendship over the years. I speak with Ron Scarpa occasionally. At the barefoot reunion we held at the 2006 Nationals last year I was able to reconnect with Mike Seipel, the Powells, the Mixons, and Peter Fleck. I also occasionally communicate with Brent Benoist who is still active in the sport.

Jonesy:  Did writing the book lead to any surprises or lessons that you didn’t expect?

JG: I was not a good athlete compared to Mike Botti or Ron Scarpa. I had to work hard to learn something through a lot of trial and error. I really had to think about how to do it, and put a lot of brain energy into evaluating how to do it. So I think my handicap of not being as coordinated as these other guys helped me think through and communicate the necessary technique better and be able to instruct better.

Jonesy: Do you still barefoot?

JG: Yes, but not as much as I’d like to. I don’t have convenient access to smooth water. There is a local ski club and a friend invites me out occasionally to ski behind his Hydrodyne, so I do get some good barefooting in on rare occasions…like once a year. I mostly go out with family and friends on a bowrider on our big Lake Norman and ride one or two skis and have fun jumping the wake or riding a wakeboard. I enjoy skimming across the water, or doing anything behind the boat. When I spoke to Rick Powell at the reunion last summer it astounded me to hear that he hadn’t been on the water at all. It may have something to do with being a competitor at a young age.  Some skiers that started at a young age didn’t seem to have a desire for it after they stopped.  My problem is I can love it too much.

Jonesy: I understand you were just injured. How long had it been since your last injury?

JG: Twenty-five years ago I dislocated my same shoulder. The same shoulder, same type of dislocation. I am grateful to God that my body has stayed together after everything I have put it through with waterskiing.  I think this injury is a turning point for me in my level of aggressiveness in my skiing.  I’m 51, and up until now when I do go out and barefoot in the right conditions, I would go after it about like I did 25 to 30 years ago…surface turns, back deeps, back toe.  The only trick I haven’t done in a number of years is a toe front-to-back. 

Jonesy: What do you miss about the sport?

JG: I enjoy being behind the boat on smooth water, the challenge of trying new tricks, the early morning practice sessions, the travel, and meeting new people in new places.

Jonesy: What was your favorite event and why?

JG: Tricks.  I just think it is the most fun, and there are a diversity of things you can do and try.  It is the core of barefooting. It enhances your ability to do wakes and jumping. Tricks and jumping were my favorites in traditional 3-event, so I guess it relates to that too.

Jonesy: What was your favorite trick and why?

JG: The toe-front to back.  When done cleanly it was a great feeling. Ron Scarpa taught me to do it. The first time I saw it was Brett Wing doing it at the worlds in 1978.  Ron was the first American to do it in 1979. As I said, I learn things slowly through lots of trial and error, but the toe front to back I got on my second try.  If you stay upright and turn on your axis without leaning away, it takes much less strength than handle turns.  It’s like a gymnast sticking a landing.  I regret not trying feet-to-feet toe fronts back then.  I think my classical trick skiing helped give me a knack for the toe turns.

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

JG: Writing the book and my contribution to the ABC rules. We adopted the world barefoot rules and modified them significantly in the U.S. There were several things that didn’t make sense to us. I was working at Sea World and writing the rules between shows. Our changes brought some innovative thinking to the sport. For example, you could only use a 75 or 85 foot rope for tricks, so we modified that to allow people to use any length you want. Also, trick runs were 20 seconds at the time, and I figured 95% of contestants didn’t have enough tricks to fill 40 seconds. Plus, 20 seconds at 40+mph really stretched things out and limited the number of sites you could hold a tournament at. So I suggested that the runs were cut to 15 seconds. Also, back then competition included start methods which was kind of a dud, so we began to transition away from that and I hoped to have it integrated into the tricks event. So, I hoped to take the sport outside the box.  Learning a “cutting edge” trick before anybody else is an accomplishment.  It appears as though I may have been the first in the U.S. (at least one of the first) to do a back deepwater and back toehold deepwater.  Representing the U.S. in two world championships was an honor and meaningful accomplishment as well.

Traveling to Australia, Mexico, Europe, South America and South Africa and developing friendships with people in these countries was a wonderful experience.  Ever since then I get great enjoyment in developing friendships with people from other countries.  I lead what we call a “care group” in our church, and it is quite international and multi-cultural.  We love it.  We have folks from Nigeria, Liberia, Malaysia, Guam, Grenada, and more.

Jonesy:  What do you think is the hardest trick in barefooting?

JG: Back when I was winding down my skiing, one foot turns were the hardest trick. But if I could do it over again I would have worked on feet to feet toe back to fronts because nobody was doing it. Back in the mid-1970s nobody was doing front to backs either. People did it in the 1960s, but then there was a lull in people doing them because nobody could get the handle. So, I thought about doing a front to back step over because the handle would be lodged in your hip and groin so you wouldn’t have to worry about grabbing the handle. So, I went out and started trying line front to backs in the mid-1970s and darn near made them. One time I got around backwards and had both feet planted, but didn’t ski away from it.

Jonesy: Do you follow the sport at all any more?

JG: I get Waterski magazine but that is about it. I help organize an annual barefoot New Year’s Day barefoot tournament that combines endurance with starts. Through that I have interaction with folks in the sport.

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

JG: Do not over-prioritize the sport. It is just a sport. It is not that important.

Jonesy: What made you stop competing in the sport?

JG: Time, in terms of an increased responsibility at work. I wanted to transition from working at Sea World and was taking a few classes so I didn’t have the time to invest in training appropriately for competition. Also, I just wasn’t a good athlete. I really had to work at things. Then you’ve got Seipel and Scarpa who are great athletes that were working hard at it, and I didn’t feel I could be competitive at it anymore… so what’s the point?  1982 was the last year I competed. I skied the Masters that year at Cypress Gardens. Seipel, Scarpa, Billy Nichols, William Farrell, Roger Pickart and John Strasser were all competing. The tournament was televised on CNN; an invite only with 15 or so contestants, so I was surprised I was invited because I wasn’t competing at the same level they were. I came out of the 1981 Nationals having my best Nationals and best tricks score. Over the years I had lots of second and third place finishes, but never won a Nationals or a Worlds.

In 1982 I really stopped practicing.  So at the ’82 Masters, I jokingly made it my goal not to come in last place.  I said, “Hey, all these guys are better then me, so if I can beat one of them, that would be great!”  I think I tied for second in starts with Punky Forgiano. I got fifth in tricks, seventh in wake slalom, so I was 6^th overall and was tickled with that. 

Jonesy: Do you have any funny dock or boat stories?

JG: Peter Fleck came down to Orlando when he was maybe 14 or so. I was asked by Terry Snow to do a favor and take Peter out to help him with his barefooting. I remember he was a skinny, scrawny little guy that I didn’t see any potential in.  Then there was the time DMJ’s dad bought a Barefoot Nautique when DMJ was about 10 yrs old. Don’s dad wanted me to give him some tips on barefooting, but he fell crossing the wake on a slalom ski and came up crying. I sat there shaking my head thinking this guy wants to barefoot?  Obviously both of these guys excelled in barefooting, so I guess I’m not a good evaluator of potential in the sport.

At the 1982 Masters tournament at Cypress Gardens we were on the starting dock that was tied to a cypress tree. I was talking to Roger Pickart who was having a bad tournament and describing his overall bad week. Right around the same time there was some bird like a heron in the tree above us that “unloads” and hits Roger right on the head. He had a quart of this white stuff all over him-it was quite funny! 

At the ’79 Nationals in Tyler, TX, I was judging in the boat and this guy gets up on a regular trick ski, turns around at trick skiing speed and then asks for something like 40 miles per hour.  He rides the trick ski all the way up to max speed before planting his foot.  We couldn’t believe the guy was able to stay standing backwards on a trick ski (no fin) at that kind of speed.  I don’t remember if he successfully stepped off.  

Jonesy: Is there anyone you would like to thank?

JG: My parents because they facilitated my pursuit of waterskiing. They would drive me to some 3-event tournaments before I could drive, and to Stew MacDonald’s ski school in Tampa. They supported me all the way through. Stew MacDonald became a mentor to me and a personal friend. He was one of the first barefooters and was key in waterskiing. He was one of the first officials in barefooting. He was the chief judge at the 1973 nationals at Cypress Gardens, the ’78 Nationals and many more. Harry Robb was also another official who provided technical input when I was writing the barefoot rules. Then there is Terry Snow who gave me the opportunity to write the book a few times so I certainly appreciate that. Stan Heinricher, at the time editor of Spray magazine, helped me immensely with my horrible writing skills.  He would kindly and patiently make note of the changes needed to my articles and send it back to me with all his “red pen” notes on them. I benefited greatly from this! My employers at Sea World, Gary Thompson, Tom Weber and Andy Hansen, all supported me in my participation in the sport.  Finally, all the enjoyment and accomplishments ultimately wouldn’t have been possible except God mercifully facilitated them.  In high school my life was on a downward spiral of selfish pride and pleasure, but he sent someone who told me the good news that Jesus Christ died on a cross for my sins to reconcile me to God.  My life has never been the same.  All the enjoyable memories and experiences in skiing and barefooting pale compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior! 

And thanks Scott and Teri, for your interest in doing this interview!

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