Did Thomas Horrel ride pro in wakeboarding???

(wakeboardwade) · (wakeboardwade) **Join Date: Apr 2004** 08-06-2004, 8:01 AM

Did Thomas Horrel ride pro in wakeboarding??? Becuae I am only about 3 years into the sport so if it was befor that I might have missed it but, I herd he was

(dakid) · (dakid) **Join Date: Feb 2001** 08-06-2004, 8:09 AM

yes, he used to ride for full tilt.

(wakeboardwade) · (wakeboardwade) **Join Date: Apr 2004** 08-06-2004, 8:28 AM

really anyone got any pics of him

(mango) · (mango) **Join Date: Mar 2004** 08-06-2004, 8:34 AM

http://www.wakeworld.com/Galleries/GetImage.asp?GalleryID=151&ImageID=30

(tantrum20) · (tantrum20) **Join Date: Nov 2001** 08-06-2004, 9:04 AM

I think he meant pics of him when he was riding for Full Tilt back in the days... If I would have a scanner, I'd scan some in my old wakeboarding mags but I don't have one at home... maybe next week I could bring one to work though...

(stephan) · (stephan) **Join Date: Nov 2002** 08-06-2004, 9:11 AM

I remember an old pic of Thomas doing a raley, funny stuff. Doesn't his family own/run Christian Waterski School? He invented the Hasselhoff(Switch front to blind).

(toolfan) · (toolfan) **Join Date: Jul 2003** 08-06-2004, 9:38 AM

the greatest skate move EVER!

(cowdoc13) · (cowdoc13) **Join Date: Aug 2003** 08-06-2004, 9:44 AM

I could be wrong, but I am pretty certain he is in both the instructional videos "Class in Session I & II". Pat McElhinney narrates most of them and they feature riders from both O'Brien and Full Tilt.

(jarrod) · (jarrod) **Join Date: May 2003** 08-06-2004, 9:45 AM

I was watching him rip in "Skurfs Up" last weekend. Cool old school flick.

jack_cheese 08-06-2004, 9:54 AM

Yeah stephan, I remember reading that he named it the Hasselhoff cause he said "if you stick it, you get the chicks like David Hasselhoff"

(dococ) · (dococ) **Join Date: Mar 2002** 08-06-2004, 10:26 AM

Stephen,
Yes, that is his dad's school run out of their house. I went there several times when I was a beginner. Sort of like any other school (Thomas' dad getting pissed off at him and Scott Jobe for putting too much weight in the Nautique, etc.), except the only thing "different" was that they had gospel music being piped over the speakers on the dock. I learned a lot there from Russ Wilde, Scott Jobe, Thomas, etc. Good experience.
Both on and off the water, Thomas had a very unique and rebellious style from day one (insert your own amateur psychoanalysis here). The problem was that he had a penchant for making inflammatory comments and openly dissing "important" industry people in public, and he came to be seen by many as something of a loose cannon. Then several years later, rather abruptly, he completely turned his back on traditional wakeboarding and started skating exclusively. Most everybody thought he had completely gone off the deep end. Nobody at that time viewed wakeskating as much more than a secondary novelty to the "true" sport of wakeboarding. Even to Byerly, who had developed and advanced skating from the beginning, wakeskating was still secondary at that time.
But Thomas had his "vision," and he has going to make it happen or die trying. Seriously, people thought he had lost his marbles. The whispers around Orlando were like, "man... what's up with Thomas?"
Funny how things play out.

(dococ) · (dococ) **Join Date: Mar 2002** 08-06-2004, 10:32 AM

Yeah, and his switch front to blind was sick, but my favorite is still his massive floaty slob HS FS 5 of the DU. Seen live, that was sicker than any invert I ever saw him do.

(cmawsr) · (cmawsr) **Join Date: Nov 2002** 08-07-2004, 12:23 PM

he also rode for mutiny

(blabel) · (blabel) **Join Date: Jul 2001** 08-07-2004, 1:02 PM

Watch Mayday, you won't be disappointed. Oh yeah there are some other OK riders in that video too

(dakid) · (dakid) **Join Date: Feb 2001** 08-07-2004, 9:56 PM

yeah, he killed it in mayday, along w/ the other riders. that was one of the sickest videos EVER! also, you'll see horrell riding a bus in that vid....a 147! that's a big ass board!

(kristian) · (kristian) **Join Date: Nov 2002** 08-08-2004, 12:28 AM

Yeah, Horrel was a killer boarder. I was watching flyin' high the other day and just so much style (though I had to laugh when he got pissed when he didn't land his Krypt properly, lol) One of my fav riders when I started boarding.

(malibuboarder75)

i hear he tore •••••••• in wakeboarding. Its sad that he quit the sport and moved on to wakeskating, haha. he had his own pro model for tilt wakeboards. In one of the newer "alliance" magazines they had a "putting on the straps" section where some of the wakeskate riders laced up again. Thomas did a very smooth and stylish ts 5. aaron reed did a huge 720 off the double up. and some other guys also did some pretty nice tricks.

(ryan_shima1)

At the 1995 Worlds, Thomas was the #1 seed going into the Pro Finals. I believe that was his first year riding pro. Had a sweet style right from the very beginning.

His section in Mayday is one of my all time favorite video sections.

(westsidarider)

mayday is number one vid of all time. watch thomas's section in it. notice the fact that the wake isnt that big, and hes riding off the ski pylon most of the time. no tower, no skylon pole, nothin.

(newgard) · (newgard) **Join Date: Apr 2004** 08-12-2004, 8:30 AM

he also invented the pete rose. because if you come up short you will hit the water looking like pete rose diving into third base

(dococ) · (dococ) **Join Date: Mar 2002** 08-12-2004, 8:55 AM

Byerly invented the Pete Rose.

(wakestar8878) · (wakestar8878) **Join Date: Oct 2003** 08-12-2004, 9:34 AM

DIng Ding........We have a winner!

You can also see Thomas wakeboarding in Retrospect, along with Darin's whirly.

(newgard) · (newgard) **Join Date: Apr 2004** 08-13-2004, 11:59 AM

my memory has failed me once again. i hate it when it does that to me.