Joe King’s life in the pool and spa industry began before he even had a driver’s license. As a teenager, he worked alongside his father, servicing swimming pools and learning firsthand the value of clean water, customer trust and hard work. That experience planted the seeds for what would become King Technology, officially founded in 1979 by King and his father, Lloyd, who had invented a brominator small enough for a hot tub.
In 1977, Alice Cunningham and her late husband, Blair Osborn, took a leap of faith. Leaving behind successful careers — Cunningham as a U.S. Department of Labor administrator and Osborn as a mechanical engineering professor — they founded Olympic Hot Tub in Seattle. With no business experience and little precedent to follow, they launched one of the first dedicated hot tub companies in the Pacific Northwest and helped create a new category in the American home experience.
The story of Jacuzzi is an American dream realized through water and wellness. It began in the early 20th century, when seven brothers from Casarsa della Delizia, Italy, immigrated to the United States. Settling in California, the Jacuzzi brothers — Valeriano, Francesco, Rachele, Candido, Giocondo, Gelindo and Joseph — channeled their mechanical knowledge into aviation and agricultural pump technologies, founding Jacuzzi Brothers Inc. in 1915.
2024 Hot Tub Hall of Fame: Born Dec. 21, 1950, Rich Werber died April 7, 2021, after a brief battle with lung cancer. He founded and ran Great Atlantic Hot Tubs, Pools & Saunas with three locations in the Virginia Beach, Virginia, area and one in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
After 40 years at the helm, Steve Hammock retired from Watkins Wellness in 2022.
Hammock got his start in the Phoenix hot tub market in 1982 but was determined to make his way to San Diego where his family was from. A friend knew the owners at hot tub maker Watkins Manufacturing (now Watkins Wellness) and recommended him.
In 2019, Chris Robinson retired from Lucite International after 39 years with the company.
Robinson has been a familiar face in the hot tub industry. He’s been part of many industry groups, serving on and chairing committees.