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RAY
SCOTT OUTDOORS, INC. Jay
Yelas: Red, White & Blue Champion In the wake of the September 11th terrorist attack and the outpouring of the American spirit and rallying behind the Stars and Stripes, the playing of our National Anthem and the display of the American flag sends a quivering chill down my spine. So lived the experience and a swelling moment of pride as the words of Francis Scott Key's … "Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light …" echoed over the 15,000 bass fishing fans gathered for the 32nd annual BASS Masters Classic Championship at Birmingham, Alabama's Convention Center. The single spotlight, so bright and gleaming on Old Glory. Truthfully, I choked back my emotions and wiped at a tear. If there's anything more meaningful in this world better than mom, country and flag, it's the American free enterprise system. As four-time Classic champion Rick Clunn so eloquently expressed on the weigh-in platform at his record-setting Classic in Pine Bluff, Arkansas: "Only in American can a man chase little green fish for three days and win $40,000." Indeed, bass anglers - as well as all of us - are blessed for being born in the U.S.A. As the guy with the idea to create the sport of professional bass fishing, I've often been asked: "Did you ever think it would get this big? This popular?" Truthfully, I had hopes for grand things. From the first tournament - the All-American Invitational Bass Tournament - at Beaver Lake, Arkansas in June 1967, I realized bass anglers were a special breed of outdoorsmen. They respected fair competition. They played by the rules. And, with the advent of the "Don't Kill Your Catch" release program they've renewed the resource to benefit the future of our sport. Yet, in the wildest moments, did Ray Scott think the Classic would reach the pinnacle of piscatorial pride? The "Super Bowl of Bass Fishing." Not really. Watching events unfold in the Birmingham Civic Center, knowing the 15,000-some fans in the house were just window dressing for the untold millions watching their television screens over the world, never entered my early-day mindset. ESPN, since acquiring B.A.S.S. Inc. and the Bassmaster Tournament Trail a short 17 months ago, has put bass fishing on a fast track, leaving the unbelievers in their dust. Putting the 2002 BASS Masters Classic in prime time on the ESPN Network and features on the long-running "SportsCenter" puts the sport of bass fishing in an all new light and shakes off its Rodney Dangerfield complex. For sure, THE Classic gained respect. But, every headline needs a "good story" to back it up. The 2002 Classic champion Jay Yelas makes for "good copy." By his own admission, Yelas had "never been a serious contender" in the dozen Classics he'd strung together since becoming a professional angler. But, getting to the Big Dance floor 12 straight times is proof Yelas can fill his creel over the qualifying test on the Bassmaster Tour. He did finish a creditable third in 1993. More to this mettle are the 45 top 10 placings in B.A.S.S. competitions. For the three days, July 25 - 27, Jay Yelas put on bass fishing clinics on how to fish Lay Lake. Putting all his faith in the Alabama Power Company to move water, Yelas worked a 200-yard stretch of bank below the Logan Martin dam to turn the 2002 Classic into a runaway. Back-to-back six-pound largemouths on Day 1 and Day 2 put the 36-year old Tyler, Texas angler out of sight with 35-pounds, 2-ounces and a seemingly uncatchable 9-pound, 4-ounces lead. Despite going fishless for most of Saturday morning's final round, Yelas stuck to his game plan and patiently waited and hoped for the "current" to turn the fish onto his Berkley jig. California's Aaron Martens, a Classic star on the rise, gamely made a game of it - taking the lead with 39-pounds, 9-ounces. ESPN, with all the drama and theater a weigh-in can muster, held Jay Yelas for the final curtain call. The crowd had heard earlier of Jay's difficult and fruitless early-morning beginning. Yelas, decked in a red, white and blue Skeeter team uniform to fit the flag-waving moment, pulled his bag from the boat's livewell with three fish, then jerked out a 4-pound, 13-ounce largemouth to seal his first Classic win and the $200,000 winner's share. Waving his third-straight big bass clincher overhead, Yelas strolled to the weigh-in scales with thunderous approval from his fans. When B.A.S.S. Tournament Director Trip Weldon called the weight - and grand total of 45-pounds, 13-ounces - Jay Yelas had logged a Classic finish befitting a true champion. In my memory, Jay Yelas is only the second wire-to-wire winner in Classic history. And his trio of big bass, earning a bonus of $1,000 each. No one has recorded a Classic lunker three-peat. Rick Clunn in 1984 never gave up the Classic lead. As Jay Yelas lifted the huge Classic trophy and the crowning dream of every bass angler, the ESPN Classic set erupted into a 4th of July-like fireworks celebration. High energy. Skyrockets. Confetti cannons. And hoopla. More celebration than the Olympic Games. Matter of fact, ESPN lured Christy Nicolay, the production specialist for the 2002 Salt Lake City, Utah Games, to stage the 2002 Classic. In a word, dazzling. But with all the fanfare, the traditional Classic champion's victory lap seemed slow in getting underway. Jay Yelas, his wife and two young daughters cuddled the Classic trophy perched in the boat. Then, it became apparent, from my viewpoint, what the delay was about. "Where's the American flag?" Since the Classic victory lap tradition started at the Richmond, Virginia Classic in the late-1980s, Old Glory has always been a part of the ceremony. Some fans, members of the B.A.S.S. Federation, hollered from the stands at Jay Yelas to "Get the flag!" "Get me that flag. You better believe it," responded Yelas to the outcries. But two minutes dragged past before the request was radioed up the ESPN chain of command. "I'm not going without the American flag in my hand," declared Jay Yelas. His reason: "This is the most dramatic moment in the Classic. It always pulls at your heartstrings. It's the family, flag and trophy." "It's the All-American thing and unique with our sport," said Yelas. "Only in America can you fish for a living. It's one of the moments I remember most about the Classics … the champion and his family in the boat, the parade lap, the Classic trophy and the winner waving the Red, White and Blue." Finally, the two-minute delay climaxed with a flag-waving charge toward the boat and an ESPN official presenting Old Glory to Jay Yelas. The parade lap started and the All-American, Star-Spangled Dream continued. Much is made in sport coverage of record streaks … Rick Clunn's 28 consecutive Classic appearances, Jay Yelas making it 12 in a row. Call it tradition or hero worship. But some things you wish can go on forever. Thank you, Jay Yelas, for maintaining the All-American, flag-waving tradition of the BASS Masters Classic. Today, more than ever, we Americans should fly the Flag. And, God Bless America...
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