Williams Ski & Sports

Forty Years ago, in 1983, Shell Knob telephones were still on a party line…..just like Andy of Mayberry

That was the year Dave Williams opened his ski shop. Dave’s parents owned Campbell Point Marina where he started selling water skis in 1976. In 1983, Dave started his own business and Williams Brothers Ski and Sports was born. He restored a perfect 1970 Camaro Z28 and sold the car to buy ski inventory and the rest is history!

Dave built a small watersport pro shop just south of the bridge on property that was previously Shuey’s Sport Stop. During the week Dave traveled working as a sales rep for Connelly skis and on the weekend opened the ski shop and sold skis, t-shirts and swimwear. In 1989 Ski and Sports became a MasterCraft Boat dealership which continued for the next 26 years. The first truckload of five boats cost less than one new boat today. Ski and Sports grew and over the years and received many MasterCraft awards like Top 10 in Customer Service, Dealer on The Move, nominations for Presidents Award and Salesperson of the year.

In 2005 Dave and his wife April bought Lakeside Auto from Ron and Pat Rickard and opened Lakeside Marine which included boat service, convenience store and marine store. Adding to the business, in 2012 they built a floating pro shop at Port Of Kimberling for their daughter Marissa to run. As daughters tend to do, she married Grant Kalkoske who also spent his entire life in the watersports industry. Years later, business opportunities took Grant and Marissa back to Seattle. Looking to scale back and enjoy more lake days, Dave and April sold the MasterCraft dealership but continued the proshop business selling waterskis, wakeboards and all the lake accessories!

More importantly than the history and the timeline that got us here is the way Dave and April loved the lake and shared that love with customers. Dave spent countless hours on the boat teaching people everything from learning to ski to running the slalom course. April was an amazing boat salesman connecting with customers to sell them exactly what their family needed. She also taught women’s boat driving and trailer backing clinics. All of this lead to her receiving Master Craft Sales Person of the Year a number of times. Throughout the years we offered wakeboard and ski clinics and brought in some of the biggest names in the industry like Parks Bonifay, Aaron Larkin, Trent Finlayson, Tyler Higham, Harley CLifford and Zane Schwenk! Throughout the years, we built a huge watersports community in our little town of Shell Knob.

In 2018, Dave and April passed the torch to Marissa and Grant and Ski & Sports continues to thrive!!! You can find Marissa and Grant at the shop most days, along with their kids - a true family affair!

Dave, April, Grant and Marissa love the Shell Knob community and feel so lucky to be able to live and work in the place we love! Over the 43 years, this business has turned customers into friends and family and has created amazing memories. Thank you for your support over the last 43 years! See you this summer!