RAY SCOTT OUTDOORS
NEWS RELEASE

Bass Fishing’s Dynamic Duo

Headlines Percy Priest Tourney

Ray Scott, Mr. Bass, and Johnny Morris,

Mr. Bass Pro, Weigh-in As Legends

NASHVILLE, TN – April 28, 2000 – Count’em.  Thirty-two of the all-time greatest names in bass fishing.  Roland Martin, nine-time Angler-of-the Year.  The winningest pro money-wise,  Denny Brauer.  The legendary Rick Clunn, only four-time champion of the world – the BASS Masters Classic.

 It is a gathering of the bass fishing gods on Mt. Olympus (Percy Priest Lake), but the spotlight may well shine brightest on the duo of Ray Scott, Mr. B.A.S.S., and Johnny Morris, Mr. Bass Pro.  The dynamic duo, in the past 30 years, turned bass fishing from a hobby into a worldwide obsession and business.

Scott, as the pioneer founder of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.), now spanning the globe with over 600,000 members.  Morris, the innovator of fishing tackle merchandising, and the mind behind the creation of Bass Pro Shops based in Springfield, Missouri, that turned a fishing tackle counter into a shopping mall for outdoorsmen.

Scott, who departed his brainchild in 1998 to launch another career dream – Ray Scott Outdoors™, a marketing and consulting group to the fishing-marine industry – will be on stage as the official weighmaster for the Third Annual Tracker Marine Legends Tournament, May 25-26, sponsored by Johnny Morris’ Bass Pro Shops and hosted by Opry Mills, the newest in mega-shopping stops.  The event highlights the grand opening of the new Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World located at 323 Opry Mills Drive in the Opry Mills complex.

Scott, based in Pintlala, Alabama, serves as national spokesman for Triton Boats, built in Ashland City, Tennessee; Mercury Outboards, MotorGuide trolling motors and Sporting Lives, the manufacturer of SOSPENDERS Coast Guard-approved inflatable life vests.

“This will be like a trip to Mecca,” said Scott, “and a trip down memory lane.  I recall the first time I met Johnny Morris at a B.A.S.S. seminar in Springfield.  He was kind of a shy guy at first, but had the reputation of catching his share of bass on Table Rock.  Back in 1970, Johnny seemed a bit awed at fishing in the same tournament with the likes of Tom Mann, the inventor of Jelly Worms; Blake Honeycutt, who set the all-time record of 138-pounds, 6-ounces in a B.A.S.S. tournament; and others like Don Butler, Tulsa, Oklahoma, the first member of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society.

“As it turned out,” continues Scott, “Johnny was an excellent bass fisherman – made the Classic as I recall – but he learned more about catching fishermen than fish.

“I guess, maybe, that’s something we really have in common.  Over the years, I’ve reeled in my share of bass anglers, too.”

For sure, Ray Scott’s story is well documented in his biography, BASS BOSS, written by Robert Boyle of Sports Illustrated magazine fame.  Scott’s inspiring story and the professional bass fishing sport he created is told in the 336-page book published by Whitetail Trail Press.  The story reveals the insider’s look at the history and founding of the world’s largest fishing organization (B.A.S.S.), and the fishing heroes created by the Bassmaster Tournament Trail.

Autographed copies of the BASS BOSS book will be personally signed by Ray Scott at the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World’s grand opening.

Millions of fishermen across the country, and now the world wide web, recognize the bright yellow patch with the leaping lunker and “Bass Pro Shops” logo.  Johnny Morris has his own success ride to the top to relate.

Any basser worth his Mudbugs knows that Johnny crawled before he climbed on top the retailing world.  Out of frustration, in the early days, of not finding suitable tackle in local Springfield stores, Johnny talked his father into staking him to a $10,000 inventory and 20-feet of display space in the Brown Derby liquor store he owned.

Matter of fact, Johnny used a U-Haul trailer for a trip to Don Butler’s Okiebug store in Tulsa to spend his entire budget on Jelly Worms, Bombers, Ambassador reels, stringers and a “nickel’s worth of everything.”

From a small U-Haul trailer, Bass Pro Shops has grown to tractor-trailer trucks with an inventory of fishing, hunting and outdoor gear to boggle the mind.

“Johnny Morris, with his catalog vision and a call-in credit card ordering system,”  

says Scott, “took mass retailing to the next level.  Many of the products used by bass anglers, today, might have stayed buried in someone’s garage, but for the inspiration provided by Johnny’s marketing in the early days, to bring the best and latest bass tackle to the dedicated bass angler.” 

But, as Scott details in his BASS BOSS book, the story of Johnny Morris came close to going under during a bass fishing tournament in 1974 on Arkansas’s Beaver Lake.  “Johnny was within a hair’s breath of drowning after a sudden storm swamped his boat in rough seas,” recalls Scott.

This was before the requirement for bass boat manufacturers to have upright and level flotation for safety.  When the boat filled with water and capsized, Johnny and his fishing partner were dumped overboard.  The saving grace was the fact that Ray Scott’s tournament rules required that the contestants wear their life jackets any time the big motor was running.

But, the water temperature was a bone-chilling 47 degrees and the threat of death by hypothermia made getting to land a life-saving decision.  Johnny’s partner, Bob Craddock from Kentucky, started for an island some 100 yards away but turned back.

The boat sunk out from under them, and Morris retrieved a floating gas can, using it to try riding out the four to six foot high waves.

“My hands were so weak that they felt like I’d gone to sleep on them,’ says Morris in recalling the terror. 

“I remember taking a coin out of my pocket,” adds Johnny.  “I was going to scratch a message to my parents – ‘Mom and Dad I love you’ – but couldn’t scratch the paint on that Mercury gas can. 

“We both prayed out loud,” said Morris.  “I’d just about given up any hope.  All of a sudden Craddock started laughing, and I thought he’d lost it.  Then, this big hand reached down and grabbed me.  It was a miracle.  Billy Westmorland had seen the red gas can and came to our rescue.  Billy almost capsized his own boat dragging us aboard.”

Billy Westmorland remembers, “My boat was rigged with two bilge pumps.  If it hadn’t been for that, we’d have been in big trouble, too.

“Bob Craddock was locked around Johnny’s neck, and we had to pull him loose, then pry Johnny’s hands loose from the gas can.  I have to tell you I was scared to death.  We took on a lot of water.  It was up to my knees in the boat.” 

Johnny Morris published his first catalog that year in 1974.  The 180 pages were filled with over 1,500 items.  It was a success before the ink dried.  Orders poured in like the water in the sinking boat.

For the bass fishing market that Ray Scott had created with his B.A.S.S. following, Johnny Morris began to fulfill the needs with his Bass Pro Shops.  The rest of the story is being rewritten with stores now operating in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Detroit, Charlotte, Fort Lauderdale, Nashville, Orlando, and soon to open Cincinnati.

The two-day third annual Legends Tournament truly features an all-time, all-pro lineup.  Among them, 11 former BASS Masters Classic champions, including current titleholder Davy Hite; the father-son winners of Guido and Dion Hibdon; Mark Davis, David Fritts, Tommy Martin, Larry Nixon, Paul Elias, as well as Clunn and Brauer.   All are active on the pro circuits. 

“I’m excited about this year’s Legends lineup,” said weighmaster Scott.  “Bill Dance hasn’t fished a major bass tournament in years, and he’s primed for a comeback.  There’s some other oldtimers like Tom Mann, Billy Westmorland, and Charlie Campbell.  And that fellow named John L. Morris can still catch ‘em, too.”

Then, there’s Shaw Grigsby, the hot hand on this year’s B.A.S.S. Top 150 tour; two-time Angler-of-the-Year Jimmy Houston and his wife, Chris, a champion in the lady’s league; and Penny Berryman; 1999 Angler-of-the-Year Kevin VanDam; and as mentioned Roland Martin, a 19-time winner in B.A.S.S. angling history.

The weigh-in crowd at the Bass Pro Shops parking lot in Opry Mills will also see how bassin’ greats, like Gary Klein, David Wharton, Jay Yelas, Charlie Ingram, Woo Daves, Tommy Biffle, Tom Mann, Jr., Jack Emmitt, Zell Rowland, and Stacey King handle the fishing on Percy Priest Lake.

Located some seven miles northeast of downtown Nashville, Opry Mills, opening May 11, is expected to lure some 17 million visitors annually.  The Bass Pro Shops Legend Tournament, May 25-26, is part of a five-week grand opening celebration.

But, for Ray Scott and Johnny Morris it will mark a 30-year anniversary of their first meeting at a bass fishing seminar at Southwest Missouri State fieldhouse.  An encounter that later turned a 20-foot tackle counter into the bassman’s answer to Disneyland.