Marcus Brown skied for the Sacramento State Water Ski Team a decade ago.

As a sophomore transfer from Arizona State for the 1998-99 seasons, Brown made waves by shattering the Western Regional record and tying the national record for the slalom as he managed to complete three passes around the buoys at 39.5 feet off.

He also helped lead his team to the nationals both years, earning second place in the 1998 Collegiate Nationals and a solid third place for the 1999 Collegiate Nationals.

More recently, Brown became the champion of the 2007 U.S. Men’s Open Slalom, which was hosted in Orlando, Fla.

Brian Dulgar, current director of the Sac State Aquatic Center, was Brown’s coach when he skied with the Sac State team. He said he has enjoyed a long history with the Brown family, having known Brown since he was a 10-year-old boy and skied often with his brother, Matt, back in 1985.

Owing to his family’s love of boating and outdoor activities, Brown entered his first water ski tournament when he was only nine years old. He has come a long way since then.

Currently, Brown is ranked 13th in the world for the men’s slalom, according to the International Water Ski Federation website’s ranking database at http://www.iwsf.com/wrl_1007/sl1007.htm.

Also on that list are Jamie Beauchesne, Jason Paredes and Terry Winter. They hold the first, fifth, and 10th spots, respectively.

What do these men have in common with Brown? They were all part of the same 1999 Sac State Water Ski Team.

“We called them the Dream Team,” Dulgar said. He said at the time, Sac State had the best water ski team on the West Coast.

But Dulgar said when Brown’s family invested in a private water ski site near their home, Brown transferred over to Chico State so he could stay close to home and his family. He finished his education there, earning a degree in Civil Engineering and a spot on the Dean’s list according to the biography on his website, http://www.marcusbrown.net.

He is also a part of the Phi Kappa Phi and the Tau Beta Pi honor societies for scholastics and engineering, respectively.

Dulgar, who last spoke to Brown in November while he was cross-training in Colorado, said despite his scholastic achievements, Brown classifies himself as a professional water skier and is continuing to make a career out of it.

In fact, his knowledge about engineering may be the key to his success. According to his biography, Brown owes much of it to the techniques taught to him by five-time world champion Mike Suyderhoud, which eventually evolved into what the professional water skiing world knows as the West Coast Slalom.

His biography states the technique “was based on real-world physical principles” that “involves the same movements used by alpine skiers and snowboarders” which helped the comparatively short 5-foot-9 Brown overcome the height advantages conferred to his taller rivals.

In addition to competing professionally, Brown also coaches training clinics where he teaches the West Coast Slalom technique to aid beginner and advanced water skiers alike.

Justin Tejada can be reached at [email protected]