Janelle Kirtley

Janelle Kirtley Godfrey (born December 8, 1943) is a World Champion Water Skier, wife, and mother of three. She is a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. In 2001 she was one of four who received the Award of Distinction from the Water Ski Hall of Fame. She was the overall champion 38 times and was 12 times a runner up in both the girls and women’s division. In 1961 she won the Women’s Overall National Championship and later that year she won the Gold Medal in Slalom at the World Championship. She also claimed the Women’s Slalom Title in the World Tournament in ’61 and the Tricks and Slalom Titles in ’63. She won 70 event titles and placed in the overall competition in all 45 tournaments in which she competed in from 1956 to 1963. She was an alternate on the US Team at the World Championship in 1959 at the age of 15.