ROD NEGUS, A.K.A. GUS, from Scandia, MN was been selected as the July 2002 Footer of the Month.

Rod is a part of the Bone Lake barefoot club. (I would call him the pubba or the Big Cahoona of the club)  As for his age, that is a mystery all to itself.  He tells everyone is is 30 years old, 6' 2, and can run like the wind..  More like 40 something, 5' 7, and runs like a turtle on cocaine!!

I have known Gus for few years, he taught me to foot.  He has taught more people than you can imagine how to foot.  That is the quality we are going for.  He is the guy that is always going out of his way to teach and get new people involved.  He is always showing up early at events to help set things up, judge, get people's money, organize and basically keep everything moving forward.

He has been footn' skiing for a long time, he is actually in the "Pixie" hall of fame.  That is a ski team in Wisconsin that he was a part of back in the day.

Whenever you see Gus, he always has the grill going and it is always loaded with Venison. Here is a good story about Gus.

I was dating a woman who footed and I had a bet going with her, if I could stand up on my first short-line attempt, I won!  Before we go any farther, lets put things in context, I had NEVER footed before, I was not looking good to win this bet!

Here is where Gus comes into the picture.  He sends out community emails updating everyone about footing, when he is going, what everyone is working on, when they can come out and jump, (he has a jump!)..  There was still ice on the lakes but he and a friend of his, Dan Lewis, had been skiing the river!!  My girlfriend had forwarded the email to me to taunt me about how hard core these people are about footn.  Turns out this "Gus" guy lived in my hometown.  I got a great idea, why not email this Gus guy and have him teach me to foot and not tell the girlyfriend...  I would win the bet for sure.

I shoot an email off to Gus and he replies..  We hit it off immediately.  He is truly a stand up guy, he was MORE than willing to teach me and did everything he could to find me a spot in a boat and get me the proper equipment!!  He took his time and was teaching me how to foot, not an easy task, seeing as though I am not a natural, but he was very patient and I had a riot.  I was so excited that I screwed up and the girlyfriend busted me, so I never won the bet!  But I did learn to foot.

I am still friends with Gus today and have seen more than one person do the same thing that I did.  He puts out a VERY positive vibe about footing and that he is willing to help and coach anyone who wants to learn..   If you want to meet someone who is truly a steward of the sport, Gus is the one who will guarantee the growth and move movement of the sport he loves.

Michael Heinisch

Congratulations Gus on being selected as the BarefootCentral.com Footer of the Month.  You are now eligible to become the 2002 Footer of the Year.  See you at Nationals!

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