John Waldrip Kolius (born April 1, 1951) is an American sailor. He won a silver medal in the

Soling The Soling is an Keelboat, open keelboat that holds the World Sailing "International class" status. The class was used from the Sailing at the 1972 Summer Olympics, 1972 Olympics until the Sailing at the 2000 Summer Olympics, 2000 Olympics as "Sa ...

class with Walter Glasgow and Richard Hoepfner at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

in Montreal. In

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

and

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

he competed at the

Louis Vuitton Cup The Louis Vuitton Cup is the name of the Challenger (America's Cup), Challenger Selection Series sailing competition from 1983, named after its Sponsor (commercial), sponsor, Louis Vuitton. The winner of the competition became the Challenger (A ...

. Kolius began sailing at the age of 5 when his father introduced the family to sailing as a way to spend time together. John's first boat was a Sunfish and he grew up sailing at the Houston Yacht Club through the Ragnot program. In 1968, John won his first major championship, the US Sailing Triplehanded Championship for the Sears Cup. He was 17 years old. Two years later at the age of 19, Kolius won the US Sailing Senior Championship for the Mallory Trophy. It was not too long after that he began sailing Solings and preparing for the Olympics. In 1975, John won the

North Americans and in 1976 an Olympic silver medal. In 2023, he was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame Kolius was born in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

America's Cup

Kolius became an

America's Cup The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy (known ...

competitor in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

, skippering ''Courageous'' against

Tom Blackaller Thomas David Blackaller Jr. (January 6, 1940 – September 7, 1989) was a world-champion American yachtsman, America's Cup helmsman, sailmaker, and racecar competitor. He was a two-time world champion in the Star class keelboat, a world champi ...

in ''Defender'' and eventual cup defender Dennis Conner in ''Liberty''. Kolius was recruited for his second Cup effort in

, this time as skipper of '' America II''. When the America's Cup shifted to IACC yachts for the 1992 Cup, Kolius sailed as part of the Italian team, '' Il Moro di Venezia'', with

Raul Gardini Raul Gardini (7 June 1933 – 23 July 1993) was an Italian agri-business and chemicals tycoon. In 1980, he took the helm of his father-in-law Serafino Ferruzzi's family business, starting an aggressive campaign that led to the acquisition of th ...

and Paul Cayard, in which he placed 3rd at the IACC Worlds in 1991. He coached the team to a second place in the 1992 America's Cup. America3 recruited Kolius as a coach for their Cup run in 1995. Then when the Cup traveled to New Zealand for the 2000 event, Kolius put together the Aloha Racing Team. Throughout his sailing career, John has won numerous championship events. He is a two-time winner of the J24 Worlds (1979 & 1981), the 50 ft World Championships in 1992, the Kenwood Cup in 1994, and the 1997 Admiral's Cup just to name a few. John was also part of the team that organized the Ultimate 30 Pro Racing Series in the late '80s and went on to win the Ultimate 30 Championship in 1989. Significant Sailing Accomplishments * 1968 Sears Cup Winner * 1971 Mallory Cup Winner * 1975 Soling North American Winner * 1976 Olympic Silver Medal * 1979 & 1981 J24 World Champion * 1981 Championship of Champions Winner * 1990 & 1992 50 ft World Cup Champion * 1995 Transpac first to finish * 1997 Admiral's Cup 1st Place Team * 1998 One-design 48 World Champion * 2005 J80 North American Champion * 2008 ACC Melges 24 Winner

Business accomplishments

Kolius learned his sailmaking skills working for Buddy Melges. In 1983, Kolius opened the Texas franchise of Ulmer Sails which then became Ulmer-Kolius. Several years later Kolius sold his franchise, finding himself too busy with America's Cup events to be able to participate in the business. Ulmer-Kolius then became UK. In the 1990s, Kolius opened Regatta Sports and Rigging, which later became KO Sailing.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolius, John 1951 births Living people 1983 America's Cup sailors 1987 America's Cup sailors 2000 America's Cup sailors American male sailors (sport) J/24 class world champions Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Soling class sailors Olympic silver medalists for the United States in sailing Sportspeople from Houston Sailors at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Soling World champions in sailing for the United States 20th-century American sportsmen