SHORELINES

Reaching the Atkins m ade it to top in water skiing, ac ademic worlds Leah Rawls Atkins, one of 20th-century Alabama's most prominent historians, reached the pinnacle of her career six decades ago this year. At the age of 18, though, her career had nothing to do with history – except for making it. Not just for Alabama or the United States, but for the world. In 1953, Leah Marie Rawls became the best female water skier on the planet when she won the women's overall World Tournament in Toronto and became Alabama's first water skiing world champion. In just three years, she had gone from worst to first. In 1950, at Lake Guntersville in her first tournament, she placed last in every event. For much of the 1950s, Atkins (she married Auburn University football star George Atkins in 1954) was a force in women's water skiing. She also won two U.S. national championships, set a women's jumping record that lasted for years and became the first woman to complete a front-toback and back-to-front toe turn trick in a tournament. Just don't dare suggest to Atkins that she ruled her sport. "I did not dominate," Atkins insists. "I've often said I was fighting for my life." Yet, here are the words from her plaque at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, which inducted her in 1976: "Dominated the sport for eight yrs. until retirement. … Her water skiing style perfected by 12 hours per day practice, oft times in winter water, is yet copied by current champs." Left: Photo by Bernard Troncale — Leah Rawls Atkins, pictured at her home on Lake Martin, was the first woman inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Above: A poster advertising the Kowaliga Beach Champions Water Ski Show on Lake Martin. S hor el i ne s | 2013 Vol:3 15

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