Frank Harrison has devoted much of his life to the water sport he loves.
By John Johnston, Associate Editor
April 2019
Getting older is a beautiful thing. Just ask Frank Harrison, F429325. The competitive water-skier turned 75 this past July and immediately saw the upside.
He skis on slalom courses in national-level tournaments sanctioned by USA Water Ski & Wake Sports (USA-WSWS). On his birthday, Frank moved out of the division for men ages 70 to 74 and into the group for ages 75 to 79. “So, I am the baby in the class, and I have an opportunity to go out there and kick (butt),” he said, unleashing a hearty laugh.
No doubt he will. In his age division, he is the number-two-ranked slalom skier in the United States, tied with two others.
Frank and Charlene Harrison (opposite) are competitive water-skiers who met at a tournament.
Frank’s wife, Charlene, whom he met at a tournament, also skis competitively. From their home on a ski lake in Indio, California, they travel to events in their 2018 Newmar Dutch Star motorhome, outfitted with all the extras. It’s their fourth motorhome and was Frank’s retirement gift to himself after he sold the heating and air conditioning business he ran for many years.
“Skiing keeps us both in good shape,” Frank said. “You can go to the gym all you want, but when you’re competing against a boat, attempting to get around a buoy, the boat’s going to win, so you’ve got to torque yourself against it. There’s no time to be a wimp.”
In fact, Frank’s life has been marked by a series of bold moves.
His first experience on water skis came at age 20 while he was on a two-week leave from Army basic training. A friend invited him onto his boat. “He took me out and dragged me around and taught me how to ski,” Frank said. “I fell in love with it.”
A few years later, Frank accidentally disrupted a skiing competition by driving a boat through it. The organizers then invited him to join other novices on a slalom course. Fancying himself a pretty good skier, Frank was all in. But on consecutive runs, he failed to get around the first buoy.
He was hooked, though. He trained at a ski school, joined a ski club, and participated in tournaments. He loved the sport so much, in 1972 he and five others begged, borrowed, and scraped together money — “I had to hock everything to get enough,” Frank said — to buy 40 acres of mostly weedy land in the Southern California desert near Newberry Springs. The goal: build their own private ski lake.
Once work got under way, Frank quit his job with an air-conditioning service company so he could supervise the contractor who was digging the lake. For a year, Frank lived on-site in a van with his dog. He built a dock and made other improvements, getting help from the other owners on weekends.
It took three years to build Wet Set Village, which now has eight owners on eight lots. Frank is the only original owner who remains. Over the years, the lake has hosted numerous events, including the U.S. Water Ski Team Trials, the American Water Ski Association’s Western Region Championships (seven times), and competitions involving college ski teams and clubs.
Frank returned to his job before Wet Set was completed, but the time away made him realize he need not work for someone else. So, he earned his contractor’s license and became his own boss. By the time he retired, his business had 90 employees.
During a skiing competition, RVers park on the waterfront at Wet Set Village, the private lake near Newberry Springs, California, that was developed by Frank and a few others.
Once Wet Set was built, Frank again turned his attention to competitive skiing. At age 35, he qualified for the Western Region Championships in Utah. Unseeded in a division with 45 skiers, he was the first competitor off the dock, skimming over water that was like glass.
“I skied my personal best, better than I’d ever skied in practice,” he said. By the time the top-seeded skiers took their turns later in the day, the water had become choppy, and more challenging. “Forty-four skiers later, I was still in first place.”
Frank figured that winning the regional championship was a sign that he should somehow give back to the sport he loves. So, he ran for a spot on a USA-WSWS regional council, and won. Over the years, he moved up the governing body’s hierarchy, eventually serving three years as national treasurer and five years as chairman of the board.
In addition, for 25 years he was manager of the U.S. teams that competed for the Water Ski World Championships, which are held every two years. In that role, he made all the travel arrangements and accompanied the team of six.
Italy hosted the event in 2001, two weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Mindful that people everywhere were fearful of flying, Frank gave team members the option of staying home. None did. In Italy, they wore nothing that would identify them as Americans. Before entering hotel rooms or boarding vans, they waited for U.S. State Department officials to do safety checks.
At the opening ceremony, similar to that for an Olympics, the U.S. team was greeted with rousing cheers. Then a little girl presented them with a bouquet of roses and said, “We’re here to support you 100 percent.”
“We hadn’t won a world championship in the last three worlds,” Frank said, “and we kicked (butt).”
It was, Frank said, his proudest moment. And that’s saying something, because in 2015 he received the Water Ski Hall of Fame Award of Distinction.
The hall of fame is in Florida, near Walt Disney World. Frank recently was elected to the hall’s selection committee, so this April, he and Charlene will travel there in their Dutch Star. There will be ample opportunities to ski, of course.
Frank said Charlene has joked that this will be his last motorhome, because “I’ll be too old to drive in five years. I said, ‘Oh, get over it!’” Then he let out another chortle.
As for how long he’ll continue skiing, Frank said he would like to follow the lead of his late friend “Big Al” Wagner, who skied until the year before his death at age 85. “I tell everybody I want to be the next Big Al. I’d like to still be skiing when I’m 83, 84 years old.”
In other words, he plans to be kicking butt for the foreseeable future.