Shaun Murray

Last updated

Shaun Murray
Born (1976-04-28) April 28, 1976 (age 48)
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Professional Wakeboarder, Nautique Spokesperson
Years active1995-Present
Known forProfessional Wakeboarder
SpouseKerri
Children3

Shaun Murray is an American four-time World champion wakeboarder, and the main character featured in Activision O2's video game Wakeboarding Unleashed Featuring Shaun Murray (originally under the working title Shaun Murray's Pro Wakeboarder) developed by Shaba Games and released on June 3, 2003 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Game Boy Advance. A PC port was developed by Beenox and published by Aspyr, releasing on December 22, 2003. A playable demo version of the game was available in the Options menu for the PlayStation 2 version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 .

Contents

Early life

Shaun Murray first learning to water ski on San Diego Bay at the age of 8. In 1988. When he was 11 years old, his family went on a trip to Lake Shasta where he took a slalom lesson. Afterwards, his family rented a Skurfer from the local marina to try it out for the first time, this was his start with wakeboarding. The following year he moved with his family to Lake St. Louis, Missouri, where he honed his skills as a member of the Lake St. Louis Water Ski Club. After graduating from high school, he moved to Florida to ride for the Florida Southern College ski team and teach skiing at the Benzel Ski School. Murray decided he would take one semester off of school to focus on wakeboarding. But as he got better, he gained scholarships and joined some of the biggest teams in the sport. His career took off and he still has not been back to school because of his success.

Career and accomplishments

Murray's wakeboarding career started in 1995 and has been full of innovation and accomplishment, including many Pro tour and World championship titles. He promoted his own "Backyard Tour" with pro-rider and friend Gerry Nunn, has been featured in many wakeboard movies, magazine and television pieces, created his own wakeboard instructional series entitled "Detention", and is the star of his own video game, Wakeboarding Unleashed. In the summer of 2004, Murray dislocated his knee while riding. He tore his ACL, PCL, and MCL. After reconstructive surgery he was told he might not ride again. But, just months later he was back riding. He has helped develop signature products that include boats, wakeboards, life jackets, wet suits, and clothing lines.

Murray ran a wakeboard camp (The Boarding School) with friend Travis Moye from 2003 to 2013. The camp has continued with Moye at the Helm after 2013, but Murray had to leave that year after Nautique bought OWC cable park and asked him to spend more time there as a coach. [1]

Murray has had dozens of wakeboard titles in his career which has spanned from 1998 to the present (2020). Murray was the first wakeboarder ever to land a 900 (regular hs). He is the only rider ever to hold World, Pro Tour and National champion titles at once, and was given a "Legend" award from Wakeboard magazine in 2005. He has also been in the final list of favorite male riders from Wakeboarding Mag's Reader's Poll at every single year since its inception. [2] Murray's sponsors include Hyperlite, Fox, Nautiques, Reef, Jet Pilot, and Freestyle performance. [3]

Murray was a contestant on the tv show American Ninja Warrior in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018. In 2015 he placed 25th in the qualifiers but was eliminated at obstacle #7 in the city finals. [4]

Personal life

Murray is married to Kerri Murray. The couple have three daughters. [5] Murray is a Christian. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wakeboarding</span> Surface water sport

Wakeboarding is a water sport in which the rider, standing on a wakeboard, is towed behind a motorboat across its wake and especially up off the crest in order to perform aerial maneuvers. A hallmark of wakeboarding is the attempted performance of midair tricks. Wakeboarding was developed from a combination of water skiing, snowboarding and surfing techniques.

Boardsports are active outdoor sports that are played with some sort of board as the primary equipment. These sports take place on a variety of terrains, from paved flat-ground and snow-covered hills to water and air. Most boardsports are considered action sports or extreme sports, and thus often appeal to youth. Some board sports were marginalized in the past. However, many board sports are gaining mainstream recognition, and with this recognition, they have enjoyed wider broadcast, sponsorship and inclusion in institutional sporting events, including the Olympic Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation</span> International sport governing body

The International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) is the world governing body for all towed water sports. Founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1946, it is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the sole authority governing all towed water sports and has 91 affiliated member federations worldwide. The IWWF is also an affiliate member of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) and is one of the seven founding sports of the World Games.

Hyperlite Wake Mfg. is a manufacturing company that was established in 1991 in Redmond, Washington. The company manufactures a variety of water sports equipment including wakeboards, wakesurfs, vest, paddleboards and more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darin Shapiro</span>

Darin Fane Shapiro, nicknamed "The Scud" is an American professional wakeboarder from Orlando, Florida and the most successful rider in the history of the sport. Shapiro is well known for landing the first ever double-flip on a wakeboard, which he named the "Speedball" as well as many other tricks which laid the foundation for what wakeboarding is today. After a 10-year retirement from wakeboarding, Shapiro returned to competition at age 40, at the 2014 Wake Games contest at Orlando Watersports Complex in Orlando, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cable skiing</span>

Cable skiing is a way to water ski, in which the skier's rope and handle are pulled by an electrically driven cable, whereas traditionally a waterskier is pulled by a motorboat. The mechanism consists of two cables running parallel to one another with carriers between them every 80 metres. The carriers are metal tubes that can hook up tow ropes with riders. Tow ropes are detached and attached at the same time without slowing the system down, which is a main reason for its high efficiency. With a main cable of 800 metres long, 10 riders can waterski or wakeboard at the same time. The speed of the main cable can be up to 38 mph (61 km/h), and slalom skiers can reach much higher speeds. The most common speed is 19 mph (31 km/h), which suits wakeboarders best.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wakesurfing</span> Water sport

Wakesurfing is a water sport in which a rider trails behind a boat, riding the boat's wake without being directly pulled by the boat. After getting up on the wake, typically by use of a tow rope, the wakesurfers will drop the rope, and ride the steep face below the wave's peak in a fashion reminiscent of surfing. Wakesurfers generally use special boards, designed specifically for wakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wakeboard boat</span>

Wakeboard boats also known as wakeboats, surfboats or tow boats are designed to create a large, specially shaped wake, for a wakeboarder to jump the wakes from side to side doing aerial tricks. They developed from the Runabout type.

Nautique Boat Company is an American boat manufacturer that produces boats primarily for waterskiing, wakeboarding and wakesurfing. With models in the Super Air Nautique and Ski Nautique lines, they are widely considered the gold standard in the inboard towboat market. Owned by parent company, Correct Craft, Nautique is a member of the oldest family-owned and operated boat manufacturer in the world.

Parks Bonifay is an American professional wakeboarder.

Dallas Friday is an American wakeboarder. Her competition victories include four X Games gold medals and several World Wakeboarding Titles. She has also won the ESPN ESPY Award for Best Female Action Sports Athlete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paulie Koch</span> American world champion wakeboarder (born 1996)

Paulie Koch is an American world champion wakeboarder. In 2010 he rose to the top of the wakeboarding world when won the Under 13 Boys 2010 Rockstar WWA Wakeboard World Championships at the age of 13. Paulie started wakeboarding at the age of 5. That same year he started competing in local INT events. Paulie went on to become the 2004 New England Regional Champion and was invited to represent New England at the 2004 INT National Championships. That year he won his first major title, "2004 Mini Outlaw INT National Champion".

Rusty Malinoski, known as Bone crusher, is a Canadian professional wakeboarder who was the first athlete to successfully land a 1080° in a wakeboard competition. 

<i>Ultimate Rush</i> TV series or program

Ultimate Rush is a 2011/2012 documentary television series produced by the Red Bull Media House in association with Matchstick Productions. It is also marketed as a combination of stupendous action sports endeavour, coupled with a cinematic-approach to storytelling. Through its wide distribution in the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Denmark, Austria and other territories, the series is evidence of the acceptance of extreme sports into mainstream television, and one of the most complete accounts thereof. The series focuses on the outrageous exploits of some of the best athletes in the world, and how they explore the fine line between extreme sports, philosophy and art. Most of the filming was conducted in the rugged backcountry of British Columbia, Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, the French Alps, the Himalayas and the Andes, but not at official events or secured sites.

Danny Harf is an American professional wakeboarder and sports video producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsay McQueen</span>

Lindsay McQueen is a hydroflight athlete. He has been involved with the company FlyBoard since it was set up by a French watercraft rider, Franky Zapata, in 2011.

Raimi Merritt is a professional wakeboarder and is one of the top female athletes in the sport of wakeboarding.

<i>Wakeboarding Unleashed Featuring Shaun Murray</i> 2003 video game

Wakeboarding Unleashed Featuring Shaun Murray is an extreme sports video game developed by Shaba Games, Small Rockets and Beenox, and published by Activision under the Activision O2 label and Aspyr for Game Boy Advance, Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox and mobile phones in 2003. It features wakeboarder Shaun Murray.

References

  1. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : Battle for The Boarding School. YouTube .
  2. ↑ "2019 Wakeboarding Readers Poll Results". December 12, 2019.
  3. ↑ Pro Wakeboard Tour Archived 2006-11-19 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ "Shaun Murray | American Ninja Warrior Profile, History & Video Highlights".
  5. ↑ "Kerri Murray on Instagram: "What a crazy hectic awesome Christmas! Making memories with family is priceless. Can't wait to make many more in 2019! @shaunmurray #murrayfam5"". Instagram.
  6. ↑ "Shaun Murray - My Story". YouTube . Archived from the original on December 22, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.