Celebrating Jeff Surdej’s Contributions to Collegiate Water Skiing

The National Collegiate Water Ski Association is proud to recognize Jeff Surdej as a member of the NCWSA Hall of Fame and as an Honorary National Director, honoring his decades of service, leadership, and lasting impact on collegiate water skiing.

Jeff’s collegiate skiing career began at Purdue University, where he competed from the fall of 1994 through the spring of 1998. During his time at Purdue, Surdej helped establish the team as a Midwest powerhouse and played an important role in building a program that would continue to dominate the region for years after his graduation. Changes to the team structure and recruiting efforts helped create a foundation for Purdue to attract elite athletes, including Cale Burdick, and sustain its success well after Jeff graduated.

His greatest influence on collegiate water skiing, however, has come through his continued service off the water. A longtime leader in the Midwest, Jeff helped create the Team Midwest Winter Conference alongside Chad Kodiak, providing collegiate teams with an opportunity to connect, prepare, and build relationships during the offseason. Surdej and his family also hosted numerous collegiate tournaments at Waters Edge in Wilmington, Illinois, which served as the annual Great Plains Conference Championships location prior to Dream Lakes. Among the most memorable were the dual-conference tournaments of the early 2000s, when teams from both conferences converged at Waters Edge for one massive collegiate tournament.

Following his time as MCWSA Chair, Jeff stepped into national leadership and has served as NCWSA Chair. Over more than two decades, he has served as a judge at countless MCWSA tournaments and Regionals and has repeatedly represented the Midwest as a judge at NCWSA Nationals and All-Stars. As a national leader, Jeff has helped guide collegiate water skiing through some of its most significant periods of growth and change. His tenure has included the introduction of the Wild Card Show in 2008, expansions of Nationals to 20, 22, 23, and 24 teams, the implementation of the mini-course rule in 2017, and numerous other changes designed to keep collegiate skiing competitive, accessible, innovative, and, most importantly, fun.

Jeff has consistently championed a simple philosophy: collegiate water skiing should be the best and most fun version of competitive water skiing. NCWSA Nationals exemplifies that philosophy, combining elite competition with the unique team atmosphere, energy, and camaraderie that make collegiate skiing unlike any other form of the sport.

Surdej was inducted into the Midwest Hall of Fame in 2020 in recognition of his extraordinary service and lasting influence on collegiate water skiing throughout the Midwest. That same year, he was named an NCWSA Honorary National Director, and the following year, he joined the ranks of the NCWSA Hall of Fame. Then in 2025 he received USA Water Ski’s Award of Distinction.

From his days as a Purdue skier to his decades of service as a judge, tournament leader, conference builder, and national director, Jeff Surdej has helped shape collegiate water skiing at nearly every level. His legacy can be seen in the teams he helped build, the athletes and leaders he has supported, and the countless collegiate skiers who have experienced the sport because of the foundation he helped build. Jeff’s impact on collegiate water skiing will continue to be felt for generations to come, both through the traditions he helped establish and through the people who continue to carry the sport forward.