On June 5-7 in 1967, the modern era of bass fishing began at Beaver Lake when Ray Scott held his first bass tournament, the All-American Invitational.
Stan Sloan of Memphis won the tournament against a star-studded field that included Bill Dance, Forrest Wood, Tom Mann and Ray Murski. It was the foundation of an organization that later bloomed into the Bass Angler Sportsman Society, or BASS, and the sport of professional bass fishing.
Scott, an insurance salesman in 1967, envisioned an invitational bass tournament with a $100 entry fee while watching a bowling tournament on television in a motel room in Jackson, Miss. He had never been to Northwest Arkansas or seen Beaver Lake, but he said it came to him in a revelation to hold a tournament there.
That story has been told many times in many places, so I won't belabor it here, but it also springboarded my own career.
In June 1992, BASS returned to Beaver Lake for the 25th Anniversary tournament. As the outdoor editor of the Morning News in Springdale, I was assigned to create a special tabloid for the event.
Such a package had to start with a feature about Ray Scott, so I called his office.
What I did not know is that Scott had shunned the media after he believed he and BASS had been treated unfairly in coverage about a lawsuit involving BASS. Scott's secretary told me adamantly that Mr. Scott would not speak with me. Ever.
"If I give you my number, will you please just give it to him?" I asked.
"I told you that Mr. Scott is not speaking to the press," she replied coolly.
"I'm not asking to speak with him," I said. "All I'm asking is for you to give him my number."
"Well, it won't do you any good," she said.
"I understand, but will you please just give it to him?"
She sighed, sniffed and harrumphed, but she finally acquiesced.
I ended the exchange by saying, "From one southerner to another, I know you're a person who keeps her word. Thank you very much for your patience."
And I meant it.
Weeks passed, and I resigned myself to completing the project without Scott's input, but I left some space open just in case.
I was enjoying breakfast with Miss Laura one morning when the phone rang. A gruff, grits-and-gravy drawl asked, "Is this Bryan Hendricks."
"Yes, sir, it is."
"This is Ray Scott calling from Mont-GUM-ry, Ala-BAM-a!"
I started that conversation with a brand new Big Chief tablet. When it ended many hours later, every page, front and back, was covered with ink.
Scott loved the tabloid, and he sent for me when he arrived in Springdale for the tournament. He personally introduced me to everybody associated with BASS that he felt I should know, including many anglers who at that time were almost mythical to me.
Afterwards, Scott sent me an autographed copy of his book, Prospecting and Selling. It explained the method he used to build his insurance business, to assemble the field for the first Beaver Lake tournament, and ultimately to build BASS.
I employed his system in my own freelance writing and photography business. Essentially, it's a networking progression in which you tap one contact for 10 additional contacts, and to tap each of those 10 for 10 more apiece. It's about gaining trust and following through on commitments.
That's the last time I spoke to Scott for about 10 years. By then I had published a successful book and was a regular contributor to Outdoor Life and Bassmaster, of which Scott was the original editor.
In 2000, I wrote Scott a letter thanking him for his kindness way back when and for the positive influence he had on my life.
Scott called as soon as he got my letter. As we reminisced, I asked him, of all the reporters in the world, why he called me, a nobody at a little bitty paper in northwest Arkansas.
He recalled that his secretary was very put out with me, but that he admired audacity and persistence.
"And sometimes you just get a feeling about people," he said. "Something told me that you were OK."
My three copies of that commemorative tabloid may be the only ones still existing. I donated them to BASS a couple of years ago, as well as the commemorative ballcap that the Springdale Chamber of Commerce gave to VIPs.
It is a really cool, beautiful cap, and Scott made sure I got one.
Larry Nixon came from way behind to win that 25th Anniversary tournament, by the way, using a combination of Zoom Centipedes and a clear Boy Howdy topwater plug. Of all the tournaments I've covered, that one by far is my favorite.
Sports on 06/18/2017