COLUMN: Water-ski feat stands test of time
Among the interesting things about working at a newspaper that’s been around since 1889 are the requests we get to find old stories. Our archives are a treasure trove of Flathead Valley history, and most of the time we’re able to track down what readers need through an archive search.
Lora Croskrey Phillips and her son, Willie Steele, stopped by the other day to see if we could find an article from 1957 about her brother, Clifford “Kip” Croskrey, and his two water-skiing buddies’ attempt to set a mileage record on Flathead Lake by skiing with one ski. Kip passed away last November and a memorial service is planned June 28 at the DeSoto Grill in Kalispell. His family wanted the article in order to reminisce about their dearly departed.
We tracked down the story and come to find out it was quite the feat these three daring Kalispell teens undertook. Kip, then 16, along with Tip Clark, 19, and Jim Namen, 16, completed a 100-mile water-skiing marathon, each balancing on a single ski as they fought wind, waves and cold for 4 1/2 hours.
The event was so unusual a press wire service picked up the story and it was publicized statewide. The Montana Standard in Butte declared in its headline: “Single Water Ski Record of Some Kind Chalked Up.”
The three youngsters were trying to set a record for single ski water-skiing. Clark and Namen had attempted it a year earlier, in June 1956, and went about 30 miles before giving up. Kip was on two skis “and that didn’t count,” the Inter Lake noted.
Would they do it again? the Inter Lake asked. “Naw, they think. Too hard on the legs.”
But by July 1957 the fearsome trio was ready to give it another go. The long haul began at Caroline Point south of Somers. The boat pulling the boys was an 18-foot utility built at the Stan-Craft Co. of Somers. Joyce Young and Diane Almini drove the boat and Mel Colby helped out.
They made good time, arriving in Polson about 8:37 a.m. Without stopping, the boys headed back up the lake as the water got choppy. When the boat needed to refuel they grabbed the dangling lines from a rescue boat and kept circling in the water. They ate and drank while on one ski, too, getting sustenance from food in Clark’s backpack.
Kip shook off leg cramps at one point and they kept going. As the story goes, he used a hammer to pound out the Charley horses, though that detail may have been embellished through the years.
Then the going got really rough.
“Wind, water spray and rough riding combined to smash the windshield and part of the dashboard on the boat,” the Inter Lake reported. “This occurred halfway to Polson (during the second round trip). The elements proved too much for the boys and they turned back.”
When they glided into Caroline Point their hands were raw and their faces were purple from the wind, the Inter Lake detailed, calling it an “arctic” expedition. “All three sported the dead giveaway — goose pimples.”
Despite the youths’ exhaustion, the spirit of these three teens was a marvel.
The Billings Gazette noted their 100-mile ride definitely established a record for Flathead Lake, but Clark declared they would do even better next time.
“This ain’t nothing,” he said. “Wait till next year. We’ll go 300 miles!”
A half-century later, the enthusiasm of these fearless water-skiers is still pretty impressive.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.