Wisconsin Paddlers Hall of Fame
Nominations are now being accepted for inductees to the Wisconsin Paddlers Hall of Fame. The WISCONSIN PADDLERS HALL OF FAME will recognize someone with a connection to Wisconsin who has made outstanding, long-term contributions (20 years or more) and far-reaching impact on paddle sports.
- The nominee may be living or deceased.
- The nominee has been involved in Wisconsin paddling for a minimum of 20 years.
- The nominee has made considerable contributions to paddling in Wisconsin (canoeing, kayaking, rafting, SUP).
If you would like to nominate a person the Wisconsin Paddlers Hall of Fame, please click on the button below, review the criteria and submit your responses.
Please also consider nominations for NEWP’s annual awards program and the ACA awards program.
The 2025 inductee to the Wisconsin Paddling Hall of Fame is Wausau Kayak/Canoe Corporation. Wausau Kayak/Canoe Corporation, known to most paddlers as Wausau Whitewater, is a 501(c)3 organization that works toward the betterment of the local community through recreation and competition in whitewater sports. A group of concerned citizens including Bob Walraven of Wisconsin Public Service wanted to see the bypass channel of the power generator dam in downtown Wausau get cleaned up. Being friends with some paddlers, a wild question was asked. Is there any whitewater in this channel if the dam is opened up? Of course, today we know the answer to that question.
Founded in 1974, Wausau Whitewater is one of the oldest whitewater play parks in the country. The park enjoys a large following locally and nationally and is known around the world within slalom circles and recently among the freestyle community.
Hosting its first national-level event in 1983 for the USACK Slalom Nationals, Wausau Whitewater is a favorite venue in the slalom community. The Age Group National Competition has been held several times, Open Canoe Nationals returns frequently, and the site has also hosted Junior World Slalom races. With the emergence of freestyle as a growing facet within the kayak and canoe communities, Wausau Whitewater hosts the Midwest Freestyle Championships annually, and through this popular event, won a bid to host the USA Freestyle Team Trials in 2024.
While these are things that the organization is very proud of, the commitment to the longevity of whitewater sports is at the heart of the mission for Wausau Whitewater. Through various partnerships over the years, Wausau Whitewater has hosted beginner-level whitewater classes for quite some time. The most recent partnership with Whitecap Kayak has yielded over 15-hundred classes being taught since 2010. Additionally, to give back to the community Wausau Whitewater hosts a veteran’s event in tandem with Team River Runner annually, facilitates a youth-focused weekend with a number of organizations including Green Bay Kayaking Kids and the Scouting program.
The 2023 inductee to the Wisconsin Paddling Hall of Fame is Rebecca Giddens (formerly Bennett). She competed in two Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in the K1 event in Athens in 2004. Giddens also won three medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with a gold (K1: 2002) a silver (K1 team: 1999) and a bronze (K1: 2003).
Giddens was born in Green Bay and attributes much of her world-class kayaking success to her mentors at NEWP. She now resides in Kernville, California, where she owns a brewpub with her husband, Eric. Her husband finished 20th in the men’s K1 event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Rebecca’s Olympic run, and award acceptance speech may be viewed here.
Jake Stachovak, the first inductee to the WPHOF was named at the annual meeting of Northeast Wisconsin Paddlers (NEWP) on January 29, 2022.
Starting in December, 2009, Jake paddled 5,740 miles in his Portage-to-Portage Paddling Project. The “project” had Jake paddling around the eastern United States. Jake started in Portage, Wisconsin, traveling the Wisconsin River to the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida, then up the east coast and the New York canal system taking him to the Great Lakes, then up the Fox River ending up where he started in Portage, Wisconsin.