Parachuting naked? No, but Scott did found, promote B.A.S.S.

Published 6:02 pm Sunday, May 15, 2022

Ray Scott, Bassmaster Tournament Trail founder, never did jump naked with a parachute out of an airplane like he told me and my wife in August 1984 he would if that’s what it took to generate more exposure for the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society.

However, Scott did enter a civic arena several years later, wearing his traditional cowboy hat, on the back of an elephant before a Bassmaster Classic weigh-in in Richmond, Va., as Lee Greenwood sang, “God Bless the USA.”

Scott died of natural causes May 8 at age 88. The bass fishing world has been paying tribute to the outdoorsman from Alabama.

B.A.S.S. was the original idea of a young man who, according to Ray Scott Outdoors, was a “dreamer who got his start selling peanuts at the famous Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Ala., in the early 1940s.”

The years have melted by since June Boutte Shoopman and I first met him at a Bassmaster Classic in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. We had been married 14 months and were the proud parents of our oldest son, Joshua Paul Shoopman, who was born July 6, 1984.

I was in my eighth year as a sports writer/outdoors editor at The Daily Iberian. I was there at the tail end of a vacation with June and Joshua to my native Kansas City, Missouri, to cover the Bassmaster Classic on the Arkansas River out of Pine Bluff for the Iberian.

June and I walked into the hotel lobby late upon our arrival and sat down to rest. Scott walked in a few minutes later and started talking like he knew us for years and years.

I was fascinated by the man, an entrepreneur, a showman to the core, a visionary leader whose early actions led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. We laughed with him, especially when he told us about jumping naked out of an airplane.

A few days later I had another up-close and personal exchange with the man who started the world’s largest fishing organization, which served as the catalyst for advancements in bass boats, outboard engines, fishing tackle and marine electronics.

I was a Press Angler for that Bassmaster Classic. I fished the final practice day with Tommy Martin, a Texan who fished 19 Bassmaster Classics. I caught a 4 1/2-pounder at our last stop, a feeder creek into the river, on a plastic worm and he lipped the bass to get it in the boat.

A Press Angler was able to weigh his or her biggest bass, so I went on stage for the weigh-in inside the civic center and my bass was put on the digital scale. Scott, as usual, was the emcee with mic in his hand.

Scott, who had seen so many bass hit the scale since he started B.A.S.S. in 1968, also offered a friendly wager for $1 in front of a large crowd on hand for the weigh-in.

He asked how much I thought that bass weighed and then he pegged his estimate.

Naturally, he was right and politely asked, over the mic, for his dollar. I was embarrassed to say I didn’t have a buck on me at the time.

He said he’d collect later. I won $500 for that 4 1/2.

That’s how I remember Scott, who I met several times after 1984.

“Our entire organization was saddened to hear about the passing of our founder, Ray Scott,” Chase Anderson, B.A.S.S. CEO, said in a prepared statement Monday. “Ray’s passion and vision for bass fishing birthed our industry more than 50 years ago when he founded bass and started the first professional fishing tournament series. His legacy is felt to this day and continues to influence B.A.S.S. … Ray’s contributions and impact on conservation and his advocacy and passion for anglers and our sport set the standard for tournament fishing and are something we will always strive to uphold.”

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.