Scot Ellis is far from burning up his jumping and ski-flying fuse. In fact, he plans to stay around as long as he’s welcome on the dock.
Age: 38
Years skiing: 34
Nickname: Rocket Man
Current location: Orlando, Florida
Personal ski fly best: 288 feet
Most likely to be seen: At Hooters in Lakeland, Florida, memorizing the menu and enjoying his local sport-stud status.
Can’t live without: His morning coffee
Most recent achievement: Becoming a father.
Career goals: Win Worlds, break world jump record.
Plans on retiring: Never.
I was 4 years old…
When I started skiing. I didn’t know anything about anything. I was a Weekend Wally skier. My dad cut off some guy going into the slalom course who happened to be Richard Johnson, the owner of Ski Paradise in Mulberry, Florida, who passed away recently. He said he was about to slalom and that we threw rollers down the course, and we were like, “What the heck is a course? What’re all those buoys?” That’s how we were introduced into it. We then joined the Lakeland Water Ski Club. At the age of 8, I went to my first tournament. I show skied with the club. I went to show ski nationals. I did everything from the kids barefoot act and pyramid to the jump act; my dad and I did the father-son slalom act. I did all three events, but jumping was actually my worst event!
Growing up…
I chased around guys like Ricky McCormick, Sammy Duvall and Carl Roberge every weekend with a pen and a magazine saying: “Sign this. Sign that. Can I have your gloves? Can I have anything?”
It wasn’t until 1988…
That I actually started winning. Every weekend I did all three events, plus overall, so I went home with four trophies. As a 10-year-old kid, shoot, that was it! That was the ticket. Trophies were my bling in the ’80s, so I stuck with it.
In 1990…
My jumping took off. I think my first year on tour I won four tournaments.
The last ski fly tournament…
Was back in 2005. It kept getting put in bad sites with bad conditions. We need almost perfect conditions – perfectly still water and a head wind. We started going so far that we were out-jumping a lot of the man-made lakes. It got harder and harder to find the right place for a pro event in public. But there’s a lot of talk about reviving the sport, at least for a couple tournaments.
Back when I was a kid…
An announcer at a tournament in the late ’80s said, “He’s coming off like a rocket.” I guess my lift off the ramp was good. The name Rocket Man just stuck!
Zack Worden is…
Definitely the best young jumper coming up. I think he has the potential to win a tournament this year, even up against guys way older than him. He’s got good water awareness, he’s good on his skis and he’s strong. If he doesn’t get one this year, he’ll definitely win one next year – no doubt in my mind. Zack is good. He’s not just shooting from the hip. He’s not just getting one good jump out of 10. He’s consistently doing it, and he looks good doing it too.
Where this sport has the potential to go…
Depends on the people running it. The athletes are going to push the max whether we’re in a closet or in the limelight. We’re going to do all we can do to go further and further. It’s the people behind the sport who need to step up and get it back to where it used to be.
On weekends during the summer…
I’m at some form of a tournament. If I don’t have a pro event, I always go to my local tournaments, grass-roots stuff. I just love them.
Skifly.com…
Was given to me in about ‘98 when the owner got spooked from the sport after a really bad crash. I didn’t know anything about anything, so I just taught myself. Then my dad started helping me with the site. Through trial-and-error, we got to where we are. You can get on the message board and rant and rave and do whatever you want, as long as you keep it clean. They are vicious on the site, though. Everyone is a target; you get on there, make one comment and they will attack you!
My dad…
Is huge into the sport! He goes to almost every tournament I go to, even overseas. Everyone knows him, he’s Roger Ellis, the guy with the camera doing stuff for the website.
The people I ski with…
My ski buddies and the competitors, that’s what fires me up most about the sport. Traveling with other skiers, the people on the dock, all the competitors. I’ve been doing it for so long, I absolutely love it.
Am I retiring soon?
No! They are going to have to absolutely block me to get me off that dock! I’m going to be the old guy in my wheelchair, fighting to ski. I’ve had a couple bad seasons lately. These past three or four years have been the worst of my career due to injuries, and it’s still nowhere near getting me to retire.
Over my 34 years of skiing, I’ve learned…
To never give up and keep working hard. Because of skiing, I have gone places I would never have gone, and I’ve met people from all over the world. Skiing didn’t just mold my life, it is my life.
By Arlyn Hernandez, Photo by John Mommer