Crivitz Ski Cats Celebrate 50 Years Of Fine Performances

At a gala show at Lake Noquebay Park starting at 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 11, popular Crivitz Ski Cats Water Ski Club will celebrate its 50th year as an organization with another spectacular water ski show. There will be ski jumping, water ballet performances, pyramids with as many as 21 skiers stacked up three high, and probably barefoot ski demonstrations. Costumes will be beautiful and skiers and their backup workers as usual will be performing to professional standards. Fireworks are also planned.

As usual, there is no charge for admission except the $3 per vehicle or season pass required at all Marinette County Parks. The ski team supports its activities with sponsorships, donations and sale of concessions during shows. The club performs at the park nearly every Wednesday and Saturday evening from mid-June through mid or late August.

This year’s season is rapidly coming to an end. In addition to the Alumni Show on Saturday, Aug. 11, performances are slated for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15, and Saturday, Aug. 18. The final show of the season, on Aug. 18, will feature a corn roast. A rain date of Saturday, Aug. 25 has been set for the final show of the season.

When the Crivitz Ski Cats were formed back in 1962 water skiing was a relatively new sport. Two brothers, Ralph and Ben Samuelson are credited with discovering, on June 28, 1922, that it was possible to ski on water.

The first regularly performed water ski show in the United States is believed to have begun at Cypress Gardens in Florida in 1941.

The first professional ski show in Wisconsin was the Tommy Bartlett Show in Wisconsin Dells, which began in 1952.

The Crivitz Ski Cats, sponsored by Crivitz Lions Club, began their performances just a decade later, after Peter and Dorothy Bugarsky, who owned the Red Owl Store in Crivitz at the time, began talking up the idea. Several youngsters generated enough enthusiasm to start a club after Dorothy Bugarsky took her son, Dan, and his friend, Dennis Nelson, to a water ski tournament elsewhere in Wisconsin, Marge Bugarsky Banaszak recalls.

Today the Ski Cats boast 90 members, at least 65 of them very active. They include performers, parents and support staff. Being a member of the Ski Cats can become a consuming lifetime passion, at least in summer. In some families membership now spans four generations.

The idea may have formed because of Grant and Roy Thompson, who owned Thompson Boat Factory in Peshtigo and in the late 1940s or early 1950s established a water ski factory in Crivitz and began actively promoting water skiing in the area.

Grant Thompson and his family had a home on Lake Noquebay, where his children and their friends from around the lake often skied. Sometimes they were allowed to test new products from the Thompson line.

By then, water ski equipment had come a long way from its start, when the Samuelson brothers tried barrel staves, then snow skis, and finally some boards they shaped specifically for the purpose. They made the first bindings from leather strips and used a long window sash as a ski rope.

In 1961 Grant Thompson sponsored the first water ski exhibition on Lake Noquebay, given by a ski team he brought in from Kansas City, Mo. in an effort to promote sales of skis and boats. Later that same year, and for several years thereafter, the Crivitz Lions Club sponsored performances of the “Minocqua Bats” ski team at Ahles Resort.

Marge Bugarski Banaszak, who was one of the very early Ski Cats members, recalls that at the annual Lion’s Club ski shows young skiers from around the lake and around the area had an opportunity to ski and perform before an audience.

The idea for a Crivitz ski team on Lake Noquebay grew, and the Crivitz Lions Club agreed to be a sponsor. The name, “Ski Cats” was chosen to honor the Lions, which are, of course, large cats, with the Lion’s head as logo. The phrase, “cool cat,” popular at the time, may or may not also have had something to do with it.

Peter Bugarsky invested some of the money needed to get the fledgling club going. Camlek Brothers bought and donated Mercury boat motors. Grant Thompson and the Ski Factory also donated funds and equipment. Other businessmen who contributed to the cause included Ralph Hunter and Al Zehender. Crivitz Lions Club donated the club’s first ski jump. The club had a 55-gallon drum for gas in Bugarski’s back yard that was refilled after performances every week donated by the Bugarskis. Gus Mursau donated the trailer they used to take their shows on the road.

The club’s first officers, elected in 1962, were Jim Kresl, president; Dan Bugarsky, vice president; Linda Glish, secretary, and Donelle Witt, treasurer. Bruce Hunter and Dennis Nelson were in charge of public relations. The first boat drivers were Louis Bemis and Stuart Swanson. Ralph Hunter was announcer. The original members were from Crivitz, Marinette, Oconto, Chicago, Manitowoc and Green Bay.

The first water ski club in Marinette County had become a reality. Traditions were started then that continue to this day, 50 years later.

Banaszak said she was the youngest member when she began performing with the group at age eight, in the summer of 1963.

The Ski Cats began performing at the annual Lions Club Water Ski Show and at various resorts on Lake Noquebay, including Ahles, Holiday, Timberline, Pines and Kresl’s, and at Shaffer Park Supper Club on the Peshtigo River flowage, home of Johnny Shaffer’s famous fried chicken. The club grew to 35 members.

They began taking their show on the road, and performed at The Neenah Show, Michigan Road Show, Wausaukee Club, Buck’s Ranch, White Potato Lake, Kelly Lake, Oconto River, on the Bay at Menominee, Michigan, on Stephenson Island in Marinette, at Oconto Falls, Shawano Lake, Houghton/Hancock, Michigan, and Ladysmith.

The club became somewhat inactive during the Vietnam War, particularly after Dan Bugarsky, one of the Ski Cats’ major spark plugs, went into the service.

After Banaszak came home the club reorganized, using very little money, Banaszak recalls. She said at the time they had one tow boat, a motor. and a few skis and tow ropes donated by Crivitz Ski Factory.

They joined the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America as Explorer Post 9058, becoming the first Explorer Water Ski Post in the midwest. They did this mainly for insurance advantages. Leaders were Jim Gruszynski, Jack Scheels and Dan Bugarsky, who resurrected the ski club by pooling everything they had and getting help from friends and family. They were able to get more skis donated, and get regular shows going again. That was in 1970.

“The biggest challenge was having enough money to run the show,” Banaszak recalls. Other early club members recall money being the main issue, and said members panhandled for gas money.

Each Sunday they performed at a different resort on Lake Noquebay and club members would pass the hat for donations to help with operating expenses.

The club continued going from resort to resort until a Resort on the west end of Lake Noquebay offered them a permanent home, including a pier and cabin in which to store skis and equipment between shows. They put up a small concession stand from which they sold popcorn and candy to raise funds. Crivitz High School donated some used bleachers.

Not having to move every week made it easier to have shows on a regular basis, and they managed to perform every Wednesday and Saturday. Members, mothers, grandmothers and aunts made costumes.

In 1973 the club received a call from Mercury Marine, offering a truckload of boats that had been retired from Sea World. The boats were scheduled to be destroyed, so the Ski Cats were able to buy four hydro-dynes and three jumping boats for $800.

Banaszak said in order for the Ski Cats to become a strong club they needed to become tournament oriented, which meant that club members were encouraged to participate individually in tournaments.

In 1985 the club voted to become a tournament club and enter shows as a group. This meant new equipment was needed. “We had survived many years with the hydro-dynes from Mercury because the guys worked hard to keep them running,” Banaszak recalled.

At a Coors Tournament the team learned about a deal in which Yamaha would sponsor ski teams with equipment. “We jumped in,” Banaszak declared. All members committed themselves to work for at least three years, and they took on a big raffle. it was a huge success. They sold 1,000 tickets at $15 each. They held dances during the winter, and met monthly all winter long to plan the show, booklet and calendar.

They bought two new hydro-dynes, new motors, and a truck.

The club went to its first state tournament in 1986 and took fifth place. Encouraged, members began working harder, and some began taking individual lessons. They had KT and Julie Tolzman put on a clinic. Younger members began taking lessons from World Champion Mike Siepel. Other skiers, who came from Florida to spend summers on Lake Noquebay, were able to take lessons from such famous skiers as Carl Roberge, Ron Thompson and Dave Briscoe. Members also started to attend Think Tank. They staged seven shows in 1986, on each Sunday afternoon of July and August

The work paid off. They placed second in State Tournament competition in 1987 and 1988.

By then, the truck, boats and motors were paid for, and the club went to state and national tournaments.

Enthusiasm and participation remained high. Regular performances at the Holiday Resort continued.

The club added a beginning group of young skiers who put on a pre-show before the regular performances start. In doing this, they learn showmanship and begin to ski simple acts so they’re ready when skiers are needed for the big show.

When the club chose to use Mercury Motors on its boats, they obtained new sponsors, John and Sue Kukuk of Nest Egg Marine in Marinette. Club members say they remain good friends.

“In 1996 we achieved the ultimate and became State Champions,” Banaszak recalled.

Also in 1996 the club lost its home when Holiday Resort was closed and the property became a residential development. They relocated at the Lake Noquebay Resort (formerly Kresl’s), and performed there for four years, but that site too was threatened and negotiations began with Marinette County Parks and Forestry Committee to base their shows at the county-owned park on Lake Noquebay.

With the expanded shows and tournament competition, the club found itself in need of a larger budget each year. They began meeting financial needs by selling advertising in their show booklets, memberships and raffles. Another major fund raiser is a 3 on 3 basketball tournament, a three day event held every spring for the past 12 years that started as the brain child of Aaron Sikowski and was continued by Nick Witt.

By the summer of 2001 the club had the blessings of Marinette County Board, adjacent land owners, and Wisconsin DNR, and the show was moved to a permanent home there.

That same year the club purchased its first inboard, a brand-new Master Craft, partly sponsored by Stengl Marine of Minocqua. Their current boats are a twin rigged hydro-dyne, two Master Craft inboards, two pickup boats and one pontoon boat, and they own two water-ski jumps. Each boat requires a 2-member crew. Skiers often refer to their drivers as “amazing.”

The pontoon boat is used as a moveable floating dock for greater flexibility and coordination of acts.

The show today includes a four tier pyramid, that builds to 23 feet high; a ballet line with up to 21 skiers performing in sync, and barefoot ski acts in which skiers skim over the water at 40 to 45 miles per hour.

The wooden jump is 24 feet long, 14 feet wide and Iaunches jumpers from six feet above the surface of the water.

It takes over three miles of ski rope for each show, and after each show all 15,000 feet of it must be rolled up without a twisted loop.

When the show goes on the road it takes 10 pickup trucks to haul all of the boats, jumps, equipment trailers and portable starting platform. There are no free rides. Every member pays for their own gas, motel and other expenses.

Current Ski Cat President Jon Jossie expressed thanks to all the many sponsors who make it happen, particularly those who have supported the club since its beginnings fifty years ago:

Those Fifty Year sponsors include Crivitz Rexall Drug/Crivitz Pharmacy; Crivitz Feed Mill, Witt Auto Sales; Witt’s IGA/Witt’s Piggly Wiggly; Popp’s Resort/Marine; Riverside Tavern (now owned by Dan & Tim); Shaffer Park Motel and Resort; Crivitz Lumber Company; Ahle’s Resort (in honor of Doris Allen, a 48-year sponsor); Rhodes/Rhodes-Charapata Funeral Home; Farmers and Merchants Bank; Banaszak Chevrolet/Frank Porth Chevrolet; Timberline Resort; Pembine-Wausaukee Bank/Bank North; Sharkey T.V. and Radio/Sharkey’s Floral, and Sundown Golf Course, now Woodland Ridge Golf Course.

“We are always looking for new members to join our family,” Jossie says. “You don’t even need to know how to ski. All you need is a desire to be part of a great organization.” He invites anyone interested to contact him or any other Ski Cat member or e-mail Kurt at crivitzskicats@gmail.com.

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