One of my all-time favorite quotes from decades of covering sports — one that a lot of middle-aged folks have come to lean on — was from Bassmaster legend Rick Clunn after he won the 2016 Elite Series event on the St. Johns River at age 69.
Standing before an awestruck crowd in Palatka, Fla., Clunn said, profoundly, “Never accept that all of your best moments are in your past.”
That one sentence meant a lot to me at age 43, and it means even more today as I take on a mammoth new challenge at age 51.
I’m only writing this column in the front of the greatest outdoors magazine in history because late last year I was named just the fourth editor of Bassmaster Magazine in its illustrious 57-year history. Following in the footsteps of current Bass Fishing Hall of Famers Bob Cobb and Dave Precht and likely future Hall of Famer James Hall will no doubt be the biggest challenge of my life — and it comes during a time when most people would say the word “young” no longer applies to my brittle frame.
Sitting in this chair, wearing these metaphorical shoes, is proof of exactly what Clunn said that day.
I’m only “middle-aged” if I manage to reach my 102nd birthday — and yet, here I sit with not only the greatest opportunity of my life, but the greatest responsibility outside of being a good father and a good husband.
Millions of people around the world have relied on this publication for years to learn how to catch more and bigger fish. Some of the biggest names in the history of competitive fishing wouldn’t be nearly as big if they hadn’t graced the cover, and up-and-coming young guns still become stars today for the same reason.
I was responsible for exactly none of that. It was all done by the mega-talented people I mentioned above.
They have merely entrusted it to me with instructions to not only avoid driving the Ferrari off the road, but to shine it up like new.
That’s the plan.
I want people to expect the same things they’ve always gotten from Bassmaster. I want them to hear about new lures and techniques here first and plan out-of-state trips to new fisheries because of the words printed in these pages.
I want them to feel like they know the anglers on the Bassmaster Elite Series because they met them between these two covers and grew to see them as part of an extended family through the years.
But I also want to use this opportunity to restore some civility to the world of fishing during a time of division. These days, we’re dragged down by too many outside influences — people more concerned with padding their own egos and maintaining the division for their own selfish gain.
I want this magazine to be the first to warn you about those viruses so that you can vaccinate yourself against them and we can all get back to respecting one another like we did for so many years.
So, let’s look forward and not back.
Let’s all form a unified front, whether we’re using forward-facing sonar or an old Humminbird flasher.
I’ll keep the words of Rick Clunn at the forefront of my mind as I embark on this journey — and I’ll remind myself every day that after he uttered those words, he won the same event again at age 72.