Published 2002-03-13T00:00:00Z”/>

Timothy Scott<br>Staff Writer

There aren’t many Chico State University students who can claim to be the best in the world at something, but Marcus Brown has a legitimate argument.

Brown is a world-class slalom water skier and something of a pioneer in the sport. He is also an advocate for safer water skiing and his friends say he’s one of the nicest people they have ever met.

At Chico, Brown has seen his collegiate odyssey come full circle. He’s come back here, near Biggs where he grew up, after stints at Arizona State and Sacramento State. He’s also getting healthy now after battling injuries and planning to do better than ever.

“The challenge is to see how good you can get,” Brown said.

Brown has been pulled by boats and been skiing on water since he was 5 years old. He learned on one ski, while most people learn on two. He had to be bribed his first time because he was scared, but soon he began to ski with his father and brother every day for nine months each year. Now he loves the speed – it’s his favorite thing about a sport that can whip him from 35 mph to 70 mph in an instant, while taking him 1000 feet in about 16 seconds.

“It’s totally exhilarating,” Brown said. “It’s a workout you can’t get any other way.”

It’s also that type of speed that has injured him. When he was 13 he fractured his tibia while trick jumping. He needed a plate and 14 pins to heal the bone, so he stopped to concentrate on his preferred slalom skill.

Later, a week after his high school graduation, Brown caught his right hand in the handle during a fall, and severely lacerated three fingers. He has severe scars and limited movement in some fingers as a reminder.

Both injuries kept him off the water for a year. Lately, Brown has been bothered by a right ankle that’s been broken three times.

“I’m trying to get my ankle stronger, so I’ve only gone twice this year,” Brown said.

Brown’s injuries have led him to call for changes in the sport. He first broke his ankle practicing at a world-record rope length when he hit one of the slalom buoys.

At a competition in Arizona, Brown started a petition to change the buoys from the hard shell they have now to water-noodle softness to protect athletes from injury. He got about 300 signatures and his proposal is being reviewed.

“People always talk about it, but nobody’s ever tried it before,” Brown said. “I think there might be some change.”

The highlight of Brown’s competitive water skiing was an underdog Junior Masters victory for under-18-year-olds when he was 17. As a six-year professional veteran, he has been fourth at the U.S. Nationals three times, finished 12th in the pro tour points standings and has been to the semifinals in the U.S. Open three times.

Since water skiing is a club sport, Brown can compete professionally and as an amateur. He has taken second in the college ranks at Nationals twice, and last year, as a Wildcat, he finished third. At Sacramento State he broke the collegiate national record at the national meet, but the competitor after him, his nemesis Chris Parrish, broke Brown’s brand-new record for the win and record.

“I want to see how far I can go in water skiing,” Brown said. “I’m also thinking of some radical new things to change the sport.”

Some of his ideas include a community lake where people can be exposed to the sport, instead of the private lakes that are used now, which keep the sport at an exclusive level.

Brown is also kicking around ideas of starting a new water skiing magazine and a new professional tour.

“I want to make the sport more appealing,” Brown said. “It’s such a cool family sport and a social sport.”

Brown’s ideas for change don’t just lie in the structure of the sport or how it is marketed. He has been on the ground floor of a new style of slalom water skiing.

It’s a style created by Brown’s mentor and legend in the sport, Mike Suyderhoud, that focuses on gaining speed, but looks at it in a more scientific way than anyone ever had before.

Suyderhoud trained Brown to ski this way about five years ago and, what was scoffed at by others in the sport then, is now the cutting edge of slalom skiing.

“Mike started it, and before that all of the technique was anecdotal,” Brown said. “Nobody had ever taken a step back before.”

Since Brown has been at Chico he has made an impact on other members of the water ski team. They speak highly of him as a skier and as a person.

“It’s one of the most amazing things in the world to watch him ski; he makes it look too easy,” said wakeboarder Jason Caya. “He’s one of the nicest guys; if your car broke down he’d help you no problem.”

Brown’s future goals are to win more competitions and break the collegiate record once again. But mostly he’d like to make others aware of the sport he loves.