When he was 30, recently unemployed and at a crossroads in his life with a wife and daughter and another little one on the way, Caleb Sumrall showed his compassionate, unselfish side.

Sumrall hooked up his aluminum boat and towed it to Houston, where he helped rescue people trying to survive catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. He acted alone on a personal one-man rescue mission.

He didn’t have to leave his pregnant wife and their young girl at home in New Iberia. He wanted to do it, to render aid.

Fast forward four years. Sumrall, an established touring pro bass angler on the Bassmaster Elite Series, loaded his familiarly wrapped black/red Toyota Tundra pickup truck on Thursday. He wasn’t headed to a bass tournament and the back wasn’t stuffed with fishing rods and beaucoup tackle boxes.

A photo shows the inside was full of water and non-perishable items, canned goods, power drinks, etc. The goods were donated by the Herndon family, which has owned Xpress all-welded aluminum boats since 1966, first in Friendship, Arkansas, before relocating to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Sumrall joined the Xpress pro staff on November 2019 and still runs an Xpress.

Sumrall, 34, planned to bring the water, et al, to victims of Hurricane Ida, which hammered southeast/south central Louisiana when it made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane Aug. 29 near Port Fourchon. That bad girl left misery in its wake with hundreds of thousands of people without power and/or in flood-stricken areas.

Coincidentally, Port Fourchon was where Sumrall worked in the oil & gas industry for Schlumberger before he was laid off late in the summer of 2017. A few months later, in October 2017, he won the B.A.S.S. Nation National Championship on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell to qualify for the 2018 Bassmaster Classic and earn a spot on the Bassmaster Elite Series.

Around 8 a.m. Friday, Sumrall posted on his Facebook page, “Huuuuuge shoutout to the Herndons and @xpressboats for their donations. This is just what I could fit in my truck yesterday. Thank y’all a bunch! It’s been a super tough week for a bunch of people. I feel for y’all. No running water, no power, very little cell service, and the Louisiana heat. This is what it’s projected to be like for a month-plus.”

Sumrall, who recently enjoyed his best season as an Elite, was more than a delivery man this past week. Starting Monday, he was on the ground with a chainsaw cutting trees felled by the storm or up on a roof removing what shingles the hurricane left behind in Houma. He also posted photos of the widespread destruction.

Sumrall isn’t by any means the only Teche Area resident to lend a helping hand during this crisis. There are plenty of good-hearted men and women from this area who have left and contributed to relief and recovery efforts around hard-hit areas New Orleans, Houma, Grand Isle, Galliano, Jean Lafitte, LaPlace … the list goes on.

And our local bass pro isn’t the only Elite volunteering his time, resources and/or muscle to kick start cleanup and repair in this gashed region of the Sportsman’s Paradise.

Two-time defending Bassmaster Classic champion Hank Cherry of Lincolnton, North Carolina, teamed with his title sponsor, Woods to Water Outdoor Co., to load a massive trailer with essentials to haul to southeast Louisiana. He planned to meet up with fellow Elite pro Brock Mosley of Collinsville, Mississippi, who was helping their Elite touring roommate Tyler Rivet and his family in Raceland.

It’s not just about Tyler. It’s his entire family. We consider his family our family,” Mosley said. “I was in touch with Tyler the entire day when the hurricane landed. I got hold of him while I was at Lowe’s and got them a load of supplies and let them know I would bring them as soon as I could.”

Other Elites chipping in have been Derek Hudnall of Denham Springs and Matt Frazier of Newman, Georgia. Frazier, like Cherry, set up a fundraising link through his Facebook page to buy tarps, water and supplies for Thibodaux, his wife’s hometown and the home of Nicholls State University, where he played college baseball.

“Hurricane Ida just demolished this town and the surrounding areas. Luckily our family and friends are OK, but people suffered lots of damage. Thibodaux is a great town and it will be a long road to recovery,” Frazier said.

All are caring people who are helping other people in need. That has a great ring to it.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.