The Erickson Brothers  

Published: January 14, 2006 10:55 pm
Family tradition takes brothers to Hall of Fame
The Erickson family makes it big after learning to ski just for fun
By ANDREA HOEHNE

Pharos-Tribune lifestyle writer

For the Ericksons, flying off of ski jumps, and constructing out-of-the-ordinary water toys became their trademark. The Logansport family’s summer cottage on Lake Maxinkuckee, Culver, even became a stopping point for the lake’s tour boat “Maxinkuckee.”

The Erickson family, consisting of three sons, John "Skip", Charles "Chuck", and Harry “Bud,” bought a summer cottage on Lake Maxinkuckee in 1940, five years after the youngest boys, twins Chuck and Bud, were born. It was a few years later, in 1947, that the skiing began.

“It was a challenging thing to start doing,” said Bud.

And with that, the legend was born. Just two weeks after the trio learned to ride on a new pair of skis that they purchased themselves, the boys were lured to the other side of the lake by a 6-foot ski jump owned by two Indiana State Ski Club (ISSC) members living on Lake Maxinkuckee, Tom Perrine and Dick West.

Bud, the most adventuresome of the bunch, attempted his first jump and immediately broke one ski in two — damaging himself a bit in the process as well. The boys soon learned that a special type of ski was recommended for jumping. So after learning to jump on a borrowed pair, they traveled to Nokomis, Ill., to the Hedlund Hydro-Flite factory where each boy hand-picked a pair of wooden jump skis off the production line.

Beyond jumping, the brothers used their jump skis to run slalom courses as well. After seeing the Erickson boys run his slalom course, West convinced the trio to enter the 1953 ISSC State Meet held at Lake Wawasee. Bud took first, Chuck took second, and Skip took either third or fourth in the slalom event.

None of the boys jumped in that first state meet, but that didn’t keep them from running the slalom course on their jump skis. The boys say they were at a disadvantage because of using jump skis, but had the advantage of running a slalom course with two skis instead of one.

“It gave us an advantage on the turns in rough water,” said Chuck.

And not long after that, the Ericksons bought the ski jump — where Bud sailed his maiden voyage — from West and Perrine. They towed it to the other side of the lake, and anchored it in front of their own cottage.

The jump had a high-tech watering system of one brother stationed on the base of the jump tossing a bucket full of water onto the ramp. Being the generous boys that they were, the brothers offered their safety-precaution-less ski jump to passers-by.

“Several had to go to the hospital. One guy cut his forehead open because the tip of his ski hit him on the head,” said Chuck. “He was one of the few that actually drew blood.”

It was the Erickson brothers, though, that got the attention of the tour boat “Maxinkuckee.” The boat, which made two trips around the lake every day, stopped to give people an up-close view of the daredevils.

“We used to look for ‘em,” said Chuck. “We’d water down our jump, and go out and jump for ‘em.”

It was during this time, in their prime, that the Erickson brothers skied for six or seven hours a day. And, with gasoline prices less expensive than they are now, the brothers burned up a couple 100 gallons a week, according to Chuck. He said their parents were kind enough to pay for the gas.

Later, as the parent of his own boys, Chuck was kind enough to teach all five of them to ski. In addition, his twin brother Bud’s four boys, and his oldest brother Skip’s three boys, all learned how to ski.

Chuck’s oldest son, Chuck Jr., said he learned at about age 10, with his younger brother Jeff, who was about 8.

“Dad was a little hesitant about us learning at such a young age,” said Chuck Jr.

But the boys couldn’t be deterred. Chuck told his two young sons that as soon as they could jump off the back of the boat at 20 miles per hour, and survive the fall, they could learn to ski. Following along with family tradition, the two young daredevils accepted the challenge without a hesitation.

Family members weren’t the only people who learned to ski at the lake house.

“We got just about everybody who wanted to ski, up on skis,” said Chuck Jr.

But with the responsibility of children, and the deterioration of the ski jump, the Ericksons did away with the jump in the 1960s. Then, Skip’s death many years later in 2001, finally brought an end to the Erickson family history on Lake Maxinkuckee, and they sold the summer cottage.

However, the memories will always remain. The Erickson brothers competed in many different meets throughout the 1950s, taking top prizes in most. They made a name for themselves in the skiing community. In fact, they became so well known, that on Nov. 12, 2005, they were inducted into the Indiana Water Ski Association’s Hall of Fame.

“I felt very privileged, because it’s something that we did for fun, and then ended up getting recognized,” Bud said about being inducted. “It brought back a lot of memories.”
This same article was up under the Ski Association’s website with the Heading of:

2005 Hall of Fame Inductees - The Erickson Brothers
John “Skip” Erickson- deceased
Charles “Chuck” Erickson– Winters in Florida

Harry “Bud” Erickson– Shelbyville, IN