1980
The Club was formed in July in Andalusia, IL with sixteen members to display their water skiing skills.

1981
We began performing at Sunset Park in Rock Island, IL and Harold's on the Rock in Moline, IL.. Membership grew to twenty one and nine shows were performed.

1982
An official AWSA approved water ski jump ramp was built and installed in Andalusia, IL. Yearly performances grew to twelve.

1983
We moved to our twenty two acre ski facility on the Rock River at 44th Street in Rock Island, IL with the help of Neil Neilson, Jack Fogel, Mayor James Davis and the City Council. Membership grew to twenty-five and our first 3-tier pyramid was built.

1984
We entered our first water ski show tournaments, finishing second in the State of Illinois and ninth in the Nation.

1985
We were invited to our first invitational tournament at Lambs' Farm in Libertyville, IL. Our show performances grew to twenty-five. We finished second in the State of Illinois and tenth in the Nation. The show was called "The Rock Island Lines"

1986
We finished second at the Illinois state tournament, sweeping top honors in tow boat driving, dock and equipment crew, announcing and safety pickup boat crew. We placed eighth at Nationals and matched the world record for sending six men around-the-boat. The show was called "Skis R Us"

1987
We finished sixth at Nationals. Accomplishments included a ten female slalom ballet line, a five female swivel line and our first successful competition barefoot pyramid. The show was called "Gilligans' Island"

1988
Accomplishments swelled to a thirteen female ballet line, a ten man barefoot line and we set a new world record for sending seven skiers around-the-boat. The show was called "BG TV"

1989
After five years in second place at the state level, we won first place in the State of Illinois and were awarded best dock and equipment crew, pickup boat crew and tow boat crew. At Nationals, we skied to a triumphant third place. We built our first 4-tier pyramid and our first 3-2 barefoot pyramid. The show was called "Backwater Bandstand". The Show Director was Gene Hast

1990
Our club won first place at the Illinois State tournament and received awards for best announcing, pickup boat crew and tow boat driving. We finished second at Lambs' Farm Invitational tournament. At Nationals, highlights included a seventeen female slalom ballet line and our first four man helicopter spin over the jump. The show was called "DEC-Aid". the Show Director was Jim Post.

1991
At Nationals, we performed the highest scoring pyramid act and set a new world record sending eight skiers around-the-boat. For the third year in a row we finished third in the Nation. Our membership grew to 95 and we built our first double-top four-tier pyramid. The show was called "The Tique Brothers Yamadyne Rockin' Circus". The Show Director was Gene Hast.

1992
The first Midwest Regional Show Ski tournament was held at our home ski site, hosted by our club. We won first place and received awards for best announcing, dock and equipment crew and pick-up boat crew. our membership increased to 104. The show was called "Ski Shack". The Show Director was Dennis Heggen.

1993
The Great Flood of '93 caused many problems. With no practice for two weeks prior to the Lambs' Farm Tournament, we received a sixth place trophy. The Midwest Regional Show Ski Tournament was cancelled due to major flooding on the Rock River. With only two weeks of practice in swift current and high water, we skied a fifth place finish at Nationals. Twenty-two shows and over sixty-five practices were cancelled during the flood. We were selected to be stars in an Austrian educational film. The show was called "Pirates of Backwater Bay". The Show Director was Jim Post.

1994
The National Show Ski Tournament was the closest competition to date. We skied to a seventh place finish. At Nationals, we won the awards for the Best Ballet Line with twenty ladies and Best Barefoot Act for our two 2-1 barefoot pyramids. The show was called "Backwater Gamblers' Skisino Resort" The Show Director was Brint Burrill.

1995
With our theme Rockin' in the U.S.A., we rocked Libertyville at the Lambs' Farm Tournament winning second place, missing first by 2 points out of 2100. We won first place at the Midwest Regional Show Ski Tournament, hosted by us at our site. We had the highest scoring ballet line, barefoot act, jump act and overall tournament act. We won the best announcing, dock and equipment crew, pickup boat crew and tow boat also. We climbed back to the top at the Nationals with a fourth place finish and received prime national television coverage on ESPN. The Backwater Gamblers became the Organization of the Year in the City of Rock Island. The show was called "Rockin' in the USA". The Show Director was Scott Allender.

1996
We placed 3rd in our first three tournaments (Jewel of June, Lambs' Farm and Midwest Regional). The flood waters only allowed four days of practice in the month prior to the first two tournaments, but we skied exceptionally well. We placed seventh at Nationals. Almost six weeks of practice/shows were lost due to three separate floods. The show was called "Skiwatch". The Show Director was Tim Fogel.

1997
While hosting the Regional competition, we skied to a second place finish. We finished eighth at Nationals with Jim Post winning the Skip Wilkerson award and Gretchen Post winning the Willa Cook award. The show was called "Search for the Rock Ness Monster". The show Directors were Jim and Gretchen Post.

1998
We finished second at Regionals and eighth at Nationals. We became consistent with our double-top 4-tier pyramid. The show was called David Waterfield's Magical Mystery Tour". The Show Director was Tom Harkey.

1999
We finished second at Regionals. At Nationals, the team skied to an eighth place finish with the Ballet Line coming home with second place. We began working on building a 5-tier pyramid. We were just three steps away from completing it. The show was called "Ski-SPN". The Show Directors were Craig Ridgley and Derek Varner.

2000
We finished second at the Regional competition. We skied to seventh at Nationals with Trista Menzer placing sixth in the individual swivel competition. The show was called "Revue". The Show Director was Gene Hast.

2001
While hosting the Regional competition, we skied to a second place finish. We also won awards for best Announcing and best Ballet Line. At Nationals, we skied to a ninth place finish with Trista Menzer winning the Willa Cook award and Adam Place and Stephanie Lewis placing sixth in the doubles competition. The show was called "Jamaican Vacation". The Show Directors were Dennis Pauley and Larry Anderson.

2002
While hosting the Regional competition, we skied to a second place finish. Our Ballet Line tied with Wonder Lake for first place. The team hosted the Division II National Show Ski Tournament. At Division I Nationals, we skied to an eighth place finish. Gene Hast and Brint Burrill took 2nd place at the regional Show Jump competition and 2nd place at the Division II Nationals. The show was called "Dragnet". The Show Director was Mark Poulos.

2003
We competed in the Kelly Allender Memorial Show Tournament at Waterloo Iowa. We took Best Pick Up Boat award, Best Tow Boat Driver award, Best Sound and Music award, Highest Tournament Act (Prefab Pyramids) and took 1st place. At the Regional tournament, we took Best Pickup Boat, Best Tow Boat Driving award, Best Sound and Music award and took 1st place. At the Division I Nationals, Chris Ridgley took the Willa Cook award. We took 3rd place, only being beat by 2 points (Mad City Ski Team). We had the highest scoring tournament act. 8 Around the Boat. This is a tie for our previous World Record, but this time it was performed behind and Outboard. Driver Brint Burrill set the record with skiers Adam Place, David Claver, Trista Menzer, Mark VanOsdel, Larry Anderson, Brian Dennison, David Anderson and Paul Becker. We came in second place in Tow Boat Driving and Showmanship. The Show was called "Paradise Variety Theater". The Show Directors were Chris Ridgley and Scott Allender.

2004
In 2004, the BWG celebrated it’s 25^th anniversary!  Our membership grew to 92.  The season started out a little slow, but ended up being another exceptional year for the Club.  Practice started on schedule in early May, but ended abruptly due to spring rain.  A flooded ski site caused the first 5 shows of the ski season to be cancelled.  Despite not being able to ski for almost the entire month of June, our theme “Rocking Country Ski Camp” (co-directed by Scott Allender and Dennis Heggen) helped us win the Kelly Allender Tournament, sweeping every special category that was scored.  This included Boat driving, Dock & Equipment, Pick-up boat, Sound presentation, # 1 Barefoot act, # 1 Ballet, # 1 Pyramid and # 1 Jump Act.  For the second consecutive year, the team hosted and won the Central Regional Tournament, once again winning most of the special awards.  Also, for the second year in a row, we placed 3rd at the Division I Show Ski Nationals!  A fantastic accomplishment for the BWG!

 On 7/25/04, we successfully performed the largest pyramid ever by the ski club, 3 4-tier pyramids built behind one boat.  The “tandem pull” got the 36 skiers off the dock, then one boat finished the act.  Gene Hast and Brint Burrill worked as a team to pull this off.  We successfully built this same pyramid at the National Tournament.

The Backwater Gamblers received a very special honor, being selected as the 2004 Regional Team of the Year.  We won for our entire geographic region for all types of water skiing organizations -3 event, show, kneeboard, etc..  We were beat out as the overall Club of the Year for the entire country by only one other team.  This is a wonderful honor.

 The B-Team was headed by Paul Becker and Randy Thompson and was a huge success.  A short B-Team show was held most Sundays to give the skiers the experience they need on an act to eventually join the other skiers in the main show.

2005
The 2005 season started out with a BANG…literally. Our “Boomtown” theme had gunshots, an explosive jailbreak and an exploding water tower towards the end of the show all of which usually made the audience jump.

Three tournaments were on our schedule this year. The early season tournament in Lake City, Indiana where we placed 1^st, Midwest Regional tournament in Lake City, Indiana where we again placed 1^st and Nationals in Janesville, Wisconsin where we placed 10^th.

A big commitment this year was the purchasing of 6 brand new big motors for our towboats along with 2 brand new smaller motors for our pick up boat and floating dock.

The highlight of the season was hosting a disabled ski clinic in August. Individuals with various disabilities came to our ski site and, with the help of our skiers and volunteers from the Genesis Group, were able to learn to water ski with specially designed water skis. The smiles on their faces were more than inspiring.

©2001 Backwater Gamblers Water Ski Show Club, Inc.
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