Shaun Murray
Shaun Murray (born April 28, 1976) is an American four-time World champion wakeboarder, and the main character featured in Activision's video game Wakeboarding Unleashed featuring Shaun Murray (originally under the working title Shaun Murray's Pro Wakeboarder) developed by Shaba Games and released in June 3, 2003 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Game Boy Advance.
Early life
Shaun Murray was born on April 28, 1976 in Mission Viejo, California, and started water skiing at the age of 8. In 1988, he moved with his family to Lake St. Louis, Missouri, where he honed his skills as a member of the Lake St. Louis Water Ski Club. After graduating from high school, he moved to Florida to ride for the Florida Southern College ski team and teach skiing at the Benzel Ski School. Murray decided he would take one semester off of school to focus on wakeboarding. But as he got better, he gained scholarships and joined some of the biggest teams in the sport. His career took off and he still has not been back to school because of his success.
Career and accomplishments
Murray's wakeboarding career started in 1995 and has been full of innovation and accomplishment, including many Pro tour and World championship titles. He promoted his own "Backyard Tour" with pro-rider and friend Gerry Nunn, has been featured in many wakeboard movies, magazine and television pieces, created his own wakeboard instructional series entitled "Detention", and is the star of his own video game, Wakeboarding Unleashed. In the summer of 2004, Murray dislocated his knee while riding. He tore his ACL, PCL, and MCL. After reconstructive surgery he was told he might not ride again. But, just months later he was back riding. He has helped develop signature products that include boats, wakeboards, life jackets, wet suits, and clothing lines.
Today Murray runs a wakeboard camp (The Boarding School) with friend Travis Moye. Moye is known industry-wide as one of the finest boat drivers and coaches in the world.
Murray has had dozens of wakeboard titles in his career which has spanned from 1998 to the present (2008). Murray was the first wakeboarder ever to land a 900 (regular hs). He is the only rider ever to hold World, Pro Tour and National champion titles at once, and was given a "Legend" award from Wakeboard magazine in 2005. Murray's sponsors include Hyperlite, Fox, Nautiques, Reef, Jet Pilot and Freestyle performance.[1]