INNISFAIL – The service to celebrate the life of local water-skiing legend Kreg Llewellyn was held last weekend in his adopted home of San Marcos, Texas.
The Innisfail native passed away on July 7. He was 52.
“He was a mentor and a hero but also very much a friend,” said Dakota Peterson, a long time friend at Kreg’s memorial service on July 18. “Awesome, very cool guy. My brother, myself, other students looked up so much to him, and we were just amazed by his talent, and how cool a guy he was.”
And then there was 24-year-old Dorien, Kreg’s nephew and winner of 21 Canadian water skiing titles, who is now the family’s young torch carrier for national and international success on the water. However, he made special mention of Kreg, the man and uncle who was more than just a great athlete.
“Whenever you were around Kreg you could feel his love,” said Dorien. “It wasn’t something he said or necessarily the things he did. Kreg had this radiating energy about him that lifted everybody up who was lucky enough to be near him.”
Since news of his passing was made public last week, the water-skiing community across the globe has expressed shock and profound sadness but also admiration and gratitude for what Kreg contributed to the sport. Last year, Kreg was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.
“Kreg will always be the most talented athlete I have ever seen, not only on the water, but in any sport you asked him to try,” said younger brother Jaret in a Facebook post. “During the height of the professional tour Kreg was the most dominant male multi-event skier.”
Locally, Mayor Jim Romane noted Kreg was also an instrumental part of the influential and respected Llewellyn family that has always been highly regarded in the community for many years.
“For years and years they have been local business people, and Kreg came from that family,” said Romane. “I knew him when he was young, a young kid playing minor hockey in town here.”
But it was water-skiing that was Kreg’s ultimate passion.
In an interview that was made for his hall of fame induction, Kreg recalled his love for the water began in the early 1970s at Sylvan Lake where his grandfather had a cottage and family members met there every weekend.
He would soon meet Bruce Dodd, a Canadian slalom champion. It was then suggested to both Kreg and Jaret to train at Innisfail’s Dodd’s Lake, as it would be easier and more convenient for the young Innisfailians.
“We didn’t think we could ski at Dodd’s Lake as the lake was a little bit small but he convinced us otherwise, and so we started skiing there every single day instead of driving one hour to Sylvan, and that gave us more water time and that really started taking off from there,” said Kreg in the video.
“Bruce suggested we go down to Florida where a lot of the top water-skiers were going for extra training.”
From there Kreg rocketed his way up to be the very best in the sport he loved. During his stellar career he was considered a water-skiing guru, and an integral member of the Canadian national water-ski team.
Kreg won seven individual world championship medals, 18 Pan American medals and set 24 Canadian records. As well, he won the first ever World Wakeboard Championships in Hawaii.
“He could do anything he set his mind to. He always made the most difficult things look easy,” said Jaret, who is also a water-skiing legend and world champion.
"Watching him inspired me to try my best every day, both on and off the water, to live up to the standard he set, even though things always seemed much harder than he made them look.
“But that was the most beautiful thing about Kreg, he not only set the standard for me, but he stopped along his own path to help others excel with him,” he added.
In his hall of fame interview last year, Kreg said an important personal highlight would always be competing for his country.
“I hope they remember how grateful I am for the opportunity to compete for Canada, and represent Alberta,” said Kreg, while recalling being part of the national team that won the country’s first world title in Austria in 1991, a tourney that saw the U.S. being beaten for the first time. “That was a pretty special moment.”
The family of Kreg Llewellyn is planning a celebration of his life in Canada in the coming months once travel restrictions are lifted. The plan is to share stories about Kreg at his home training grounds at Innisfail’s Dodd’s Lake.
