Remembering Mark Kenney   -   7/September/02 author:Jay Lalley

For all the years that I have pumped up my friend, Mark Kenney, it has always been about his phenomenal skills on the water. So much skill that very few will ever realize or witness again. When I was defending him over the years after his DQ at World's in '99, it was always based on the fact that it was a talent on the water that everyone was ignoring. What was lost in all of this was the fact that Mark had the most potential of being the next SUPERSTAR in wakeboarding.

When the Pointless Crew got together to change pro wakeboarding to their liking by building sliders in their backyards and then having them a major feature on the pro tour, Kenney went out and redefined WAKEboarding. He brought back the soul of the sport by concentrating on making his wake tricks so big, smooth and technical that the judges started to ignore the fact that he fell on the sliders and more often than not took the wake tricks to a new level.

It took a while, of course. He had a set back in '99 and he was injured in 2000, but all the time Mark was maturing as a rider and as a man. In Mark's early days, I had the chance to see this 15-year-old, cocky kid, spinning 9's like they were nothing, beat Danny Harf at his own Nationals, then, a month later, turn extremely bitter and disgusted with the whole sport after '99 Worlds. I saw him come back the next year with all the talent and desire to go out and win on the U.S. Pro Tour only to see it fizzle away for lack of money, unfortunate judging and the introduction of obstacles into his "Wake" world.

Along with Mark's obvious talents on the water, was his ability to forge friendships in wakeboarding out of the mainstream of wakeboarding. One of those friendships was with Matt Stockwell. Mark and Matt had not only formed a tight friendship on and off the water, they trusted each other enough to develop a manager/rider relationship. Matt was savvy enough with Mark's recent wins at Asian X and Aussie X to score him enough sponsors to get him to the states for the 2002 season. He would still need some help from friends here in the states and he would have to do well and win money to be able to afford to travel to many tour stops. All this hard work was done, knowing that 2003 would be Mark’s coming of age as a professional Wakeboarder.

Mark was on a mission when he came over to the U.S. this year. He passed up the first, all-slider stop to compete and win at the Australian Nationals. The next weekend he was at the Pensacola stop and schooled the Americans on proper use of the wake. He had the highest scores all the way to the finals and was finally edged out by Darin for a second place. The next stop, in Charleston, he did it again, posting high score all the way to finals and got DQ'ed for showing off to the crowd. He would have scored third there. He finished sixth in Detroit and fourth in Indy. Then onto Switzerland, where he was unstoppable and took first place. Two weeks later, he wins the Malibu Open. The next week he takes second but deserved the win in Irvine. He was all primed and confident to win the biggest tourney of the year and he went out and left little doubt he was the new Gravity Games champ.

He went to Philly with full intention of winning X games but took his switch mobe a bit too big and, as Mark would say, "I fell off." That's it. If he didn't make it big in any tourney that would be his only comment, "I fell off." He was so stoked for Danny to win X games. When everyone was giving Danny the standard congrats on his win, Mark was telling Danny how well-deserved the win was, that it was so sick for him to stick the wake to wake seven and 9 off the double up, even after a fall. When Dallas was being interviewed by ESPN before the awards ceremony, she was totally distraught. She had honestly felt that she deserved first place and it really upset her the judges didn't see it that way. Well, Mark saw what was happening and he got Amy Sanders (Josh's sister) to get him to help cheer Dallas up. To put a "smile on her dial" as Mark would say. It worked. By the time the interview was over, Mark and Amy had Dallas smiling for the cameras.

Basically, what I'm trying to convey to everyone in the wake community is how much Mark Kenney cared for this sport. How he was willing to train up here in North Carolina with me and my crew despite the fact there is no one here on his level to push him or inspire him. He never bitched about having to watch my standard boring wake run time after time and he respected us for our abilities or lack thereof. He was more interested in riding with friends than being around the "pro" scene that would have probably boosted his career a bit more. Time after time, I would suggest that he go spend some time with Darin or the Hansens, as they had all issued an open invitation for Mark to ride with them so that he could get some slider experience and some good advice from THE MENTOR in our sport, Darin Shapiro. Time and time again Mark would start to plan to go to Orlando but always would change his mind in preference of staying "home."

I can state, with a bit of pride, that Mark Kenney would consider Aberdeen, North Carolina his second home. I mean, there is nothing here in Aberdeen. We have to drive an hour and a half to go ride. The best I could offer Mark as far as entertainment around here was a trip to the CD store and a dinner at Mt. Fuji's Japanese steakhouse if he made it to finals in a tourney. He was happy with that and never asked for anything more. Mark loved just riding my dirt bike around the property and he even bought a go cart so we could pull each other on the mountain board behind it. He loved my dogs. He had grown particularly fond of my weimereiner "Tucker" and had made plans to get his own weim when he got back home. He loved all our family and helped out tremendously with the baby of the family, our 5-month-old yellow lab, "Grommet."

But getting back to Mark's genuine care and interest in OUR sport. With all of Mark's unfortunate experiences with the U.S. Pro Tour scene, he never developed any bitterness towards anyone. Even after three years have gone by and the announcers on the pro tour are STILL bringing up the incident at Worlds in '99, Mark still just blows it off. He doesn't harbor any bad feelings for people bringing that up, although he has stated to me he wishes it would just go away. He even brought to my attention just the other day that even if he would have been on time to Worlds that day, he wouldn't have beaten Danny Harf. He told me that even his best run could not have not beat Danny on that day. Danny probably had the all time best wakeboard run that day, scoring in the 90's. Just think of the implications there. How many video's and how much exposure has Danny Harf gotten after 99 Worlds and Mark is saying that he deserves every bit of it knowing that it could have been himself in the limelight.

Mark was a class act when it came time to giving props to where they're due. Even though his top goal this year was to better any other Aussie on tour (and he succeeded), he still had the utmost respect for his Aussie competition in Ike, Daniel and Josh. I would try to pump him up by telling him that his handle pass back roll to blind looked so much better than Watkins' and he would always come back with, "Yeah, but Daniel's are the way they're meant to be done." Same thing when I would comment about the way he would alter some of Darin's tricks. He would try to make them look better, but he would always give props to the person who developed the trick and was a firm believer that the inventor of the trick had the proper technique.

Fortunately, for all of us that were really close to Mark here in the U.S., we were able to spend quality time with this superb example of a friend before he left us. From the time we got to spend together at Jeff Barton's the night after X-games with all his tour friends, Andrew Adkison, Park's, Shane, Betty, Josh, Daniel, Ike, Danny, Erik, Chad, Leslie, etc. We were all watching Pootie Tang and sucking down a few Yuenglings. Then the next day when Mark, Amy Sanders and myself spent a day in downtown Philly, after everyone else had left, just sightseeing and enjoying each other's company before our first class flight home that Mark had sweet talked the ticket agent into giving us. Even up to the very end, Mark was all about pushing someone else to the next level of their stoke for the sport of wakeboarding.

I have video that we took the last day Mark was with us. He was teaching our friend Jacob how to hit a slider that somebody had installed in our riding spot while we were at the X games (what a surprise!). It was fully dark when Jacob and Mark got back in the boat and Mark was giving me a ration of sh*%t because I hadn't hit the slider yet. Of course, being the mature one, I wanted to get the sacks emptied and the boat on the trailer while we could still see and before the mosquitoes became too bad. But Mark knew what to say to get me stoked and I went out and slid that slider in pure darkness that night.

The rest of that evening and the next day seems like a bad dream. We pulled the boat out in pitch black. We loaded up for the hour long ride back to Southern Pines, had a post mid-night dinner at the Outback and went home. A typical weekend at the river with good friends that turned into a nightmare the next day when I went to awaken Mark. We are all still extremely confused and distraught over the loss of our friend and companion, Mark Kenney, who I have always felt was the world's best freeriding wakeboarder.

What is important for everyone to remember or know is that Mark Kenney, who was well known within the pro community and not so recognized outside it, was the epitomy of a wakeboarder/friend. To expect anything more out of any individual than what Mark offered voluntarily as our friend and companion would be selfish. What we all need to do is share the stoke within our own community, to respect each other's abilities and to congratulate each other on our accomplishments as Mark would have done for each and everyone of you.

What I would ask from the wakeboard community is to express your congratulations, condolences and feelings to the people who weren't fortunate enough to be with Mark these past few months. First and foremost, his family. His mom, Carol, his dad, Gary, and his brother, Shane. Not to diminish any other family member's feelings for Mark, but his mom, Carol, is suffering by far the most. I've never known any mom more caring and concerned for a child than Carol was for Mark. When almost everyone else had abandoned Mark, Carol Kenney, was the rock that Mark built his rebuilding foundation on. Mark loved his mom like no other child could. She was the foundation for his success as a wakeboarder and a man. Carol Kenney respected Mark for his abilities and his accomplishments and gave him the freedom to experience his full potential in the sport that he loved. Mark had the utmost respect for his family in the support that they offered him.

Mark’s family were not in a position to give him a "free ride" as a lot of the pros have. They gave him the emotional support and put the effort into promoting their son to give him the most they could. For them to be so far away without any firm answers on why their son has passed away, has to be the most traumatic experience ever. I, myself, am still having a hard time making sense of it all and having to re-live it time and time again is draining me emotionally. I'm sure speculation and rumour will inevitably arise from this unfortunate accident but I plead to the wakeboard community to keep every thought in perspective and to respect Mark and his family by keeping speculation and second guessing to yourselves. We, the people closest to Mark, are still confused over what happened that evening and want Mark to be remembered for the way he lived, not how he left us.

Cheers to all for their friendship and support and hope that we may all be better mates for knowing MARK KENNEY!!!!!!

Missing my Mate like you wouldn't believe

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