“We’re done.”
Borrowing his famed signoff from Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show, Mark Zona announced his time on Bassmaster LIVE has come to an end.
Overloaded with work and after several years of contemplation, Zona exited stage right on his terms, and on good terms. He choked up during his on-air so-long at the St. Lawrence Elite, and the emotions easily resurface.
“Bassmaster and JM Associates has been such an incredible ride, a privilege and a part of me and my family that I’ll never take for granted,” he said. “To love the company and the people you have worked with is absolutely the best feeling ever. That’s an honor.
“It’s the best job in the world. To have been able to commentate next to Tommy Sanders with JM, on the best fishermen ever, is something that I forever in my lifetime will hold so close to my heart. There’s some sadness just because it was an incredible run.”
Sanders and Zona teamed for 20 years, helping boost bass fishing to national prominence. Combined with Sanders’ silky-smooth delivery, Zona’s fishing expertise and comical antics created must-watch TV for pros to regular Joes.
Mike McKinnis, executive TV producer for B.A.S.S., said he’s been fortunate to work with such top-flite talent, whom he calls his best friends. McKinnis is grateful the team lasted this long, just shy of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman’s 22-year partnership and Pat Summerall and John Madden’s 21 seasons together.
A diehard sports fan and student of all things broadcast, McKinnis said bass fishing has benefitted from their iconic voices. He puts them on par with the likes of Al Michaels, Jim Nantz and Marv Albert and other greats.
“There’s no question in my mind they are as good at their sport as anybody else in theirs,” McKinnis said. “You can put those guys in The Masters or an NFL game. They’re good enough to sit in any booth.
“I really think they could. There would be a learning curve, just like if Jim Nantz came into bass fishing. It’s their passion. Tommy’s is play by play and being an announcer, and Zona’s is bass fishing.”
McKinnis said how Sanders and Zona interact and naturally feed off each other is “comfortable.”
“That’s such a good word for them,” he said. “You can watch bass fishing and be comfortable that you’re being fed good information, fun information, and Zona is doing his thing taking it to another level of fun.”
At that final St. Lawrence event, Zona dubbed diminutive, bearded rookie Robert Gee the “Happy Ewok.” The production team ran with it, photoshopping Gee among the Star Wars creatures. Laughter ensued.
“Nobody does that. I don’t see that in other sports,” McKinnis said. “I mean, who can come up with names for guys like that? First of all, he’s dead on of who they are. It’s not offensive to them or their friends. It’s comfortable.”
Hit like a ton of bricks
While many were stunned by the announcement, others saw it coming. Sanders long knew the partnership was nearing its final act, but reality slapped him in the face during Zona’s emotional curtain call.
“When we were doing the second go-around of the big kiss-off, I got pissed, because I had been in denial,” Sanders said. “S*#+, I will not have this guy to work with anymore. I was really angry. I told him it’s not your fault, but this pisses me off.”
Zona chuckled at Sanders’ take, because he gets it. They’ve gotten each other from the get-go. With tremendous rapport, Sanders and Zona elevated the sport through their time covering the Elites, from on the water to behind the desk.
Ten years of ESPN “post-it” shows were well-received and led to the advent of Bassmaster LIVE in 2015. That beast grew to 24 hours of live coverage per event and helped B.A.S.S. land a contract with FOX Sports networks.
Through it all, Sanders and Zona received accolades as the best in the biz, that they increased viewership, that they grew the sport.
“That’s humbling to hear those things,” Zona said. “Where desk commentary works is chemistry. I’ve always said, ‘I live with Karin Zona, but I’m married to Tommy Sanders.’
“In my lifetime, next to my wife, and we communicate very well, I have never met a human being I was and am able to communicate with like I have with Tommy Sanders. It’s so easy with him, yet so hard to find with other human beings.”
Connected at the funny bone
Long the voice of ESPN Outdoors and a professional’s professional, Sanders said his immediate connection to Zona was comical.
“I got along with him so great because he and I have the same demented sense of humor,” Sanders said, “and being paired with him allowed me to use it, only as the straight man of the duo.”
Zona suggests he coaxed Sanders from a reserved announcer mode.
“What’s weird was, when I started, I showed that demented sense of humor immediately,” he said. “Tommy guarded his very well the first two to three years. He would say certain things off camera, where I was like, ‘Wow, this dude’s a nutbag!’
“Interestingly enough, he started to say more and more on camera, where like a Kevin VanDam would say, ‘Tommy’s not scared to bring the madness with you.’ I think that’s where it all worked.”
They respect and marvel at each other’s talents. Sanders said Zona’s greatest asset is his love of the sport and experiencing tournament travails.
“I’ve never known anybody in my life who’s been more eaten up with bass fishing. He’s the No 1 guy,” Sanders said. “It’s been his obsession since childhood. And he’s also smart enough to know a lot about human relationships, which made him a brilliant conversationalist.
“A great voice, a great look for television, great comedic timing, the ability to come up with the right line at the right time. He has that absolute top-echelon timing and talent, smarts and sense of humor. Those are the four things an analyst needs. An analyst also needs to be an iconoclast. They bring the unexpected, against the conventional wisdom of the sport, and make it seem fun.”
As with any longstanding team, there were times of friction, but Sanders said it never turned ugly. There were no nasty blow-ups.
“That never happened,” he said. “Any time there was any sort of difference of opinion, it would explode into humor. That’s the way we dealt with it. You share a sense of humor with somebody, there’s nothing more valuable than that.”
For every broadcast, Sanders made all the right stops, while Zona provided the fishing minutiae. Talking with anglers before, during and after events provided ammunition, and Zona easily figured out how best to hit his targets.
“I had a very simple formula, where I think hardcores and beginners could relate,” he said. “For the actual tournament, it was who, what and why. The other part was to mix in pop culture and sports analogies. There was no other formula.
“You have a lot of really, really key serious moments, and then you have a lot of dead air. And that’s when you can have your fun time. But when the moment was critical for the event, you had to 100 percent treat it as so and not be jacking around and being goofy.”
Admittedly, Z took the show off the rails at times, but he always wanted to present the B.A.S.S. shield, the anglers and the fisheries in the best light.
“I never took that feeling of responsibility for granted,” he said. “I took that chair so seriously because of the standard that JM set from the Jerry McKinnis days. I never wanted to let the group down.”
From do-rag to please do more
Mark Chris Zona was born in Chicago on Jan. 29, 1973. He was 4 when he caught his first bass on vacation to Sturgis, Mich., where the family later moved and where he set roots. His TV prep began before he established a presence on the tournament scene as he dreamed of working with JM, the “apex of outdoor programming.”
“Back in the VHS cassette days, I would tape their show, whether it was Bassmaster or FLW,” he said. “I was so obsessed with those shows. They were my Monday Night Football.
“I would play those shows over and over to the point I would burn the cassette tape out. I didn’t know I was learning.”
With a recommendation from friend Kevin VanDam, Zona was given a tryout of sorts. Sanders recalled he showed up at ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn., wearing a “Harley Davidson kind of do-rag.” His performance belied appearance.
“We had a great time. It was unbelievable. He was uncannily good,” Sanders said. “He had never done any TV before, but he was as good as 90 percent of all the analysts on television regardless of the sport.”
Zona went home believing he blew his chance, that he’d only one day tell his kids he sat in on a JM production. Reality was the opposite, Sanders said. They wanted more. Once plans developed, Zona was asked to sit in the analyst chair alongside Sanders for the newly formatted Elite Series in 2006. He’s been having a “time” ever since.
Fishing catches friends, fans
Elite Series pros are regular guests on Zona show, but he’s comfortable rubbing elbows with celebrities like NASCAR’s Martin Truex and NFL receiver Randy Moss, among others.
Former NFL player and longtime analyst Mike Golic is among those who’ve connected with Zona. Known for his long-running ESPN show Mike and Mike in the Morning, which he brought to the 2008 Bassmaster Classic, Golic has fished with Zona and worked with him on Bass Pro Shops commercials.
“He’s a great dude,” Golic said. “Bassmaster is going to miss him on the desk, that’s for sure. What I like best about him, he’s just got a phenomenal personality. He could call anything, but in what he knows best, fishing, it’s just a home run.
“He’ll make you laugh but will inform you. It’s one thing to give info and another to do it in an entertaining way. Being able to have fun with it, make you laugh, make you smile, show emotions, have great inflection while still giving you great info, it makes you want to listen.”
Golic serves as Westwood One Radio’s analyst for Sunday night NFL games and hosts weekday shows on DraftKings with his son, Mike Jr. The latter keeps him making the short trip from South Bend, Ind., to fish more with Zona. He is looking forward to fishing with Zona and the top bidder at his golf benefit.
“He was nice enough to donate his time and I’ll get to fish with him next spring at his house,” Golic said. “On the water, you’re going to catch fish listening to him. And he’ll always ask me for a breakdown of the Bears, and then I usually have him in tears by the end of that. The Bears, unfortunately, are not doing so well.”
A Kansas City Chiefs fan, Dave Mercer badgers Zona with his team’s success. That’s allowable among good friends. It was on Zona’s recommendation that the Canadian TV show host was hired as Bassmaster emcee. Mercer thinks the world of Zona’s talents.
“I think Zona is one of the greatest broadcasters of all time. Not just in fishing, but every single sport,” he said. “I would love to listen to him and Tommy commentate Monday Night Football, hockey, baseball, the Olympics. I think they honestly could do anything.
“I think Zona has an incredible talent and ability to entertain and allow people to learn. He makes pictures brighter. When Mark Zona’s voice is behind a moment, that moment becomes more important and means more to the person watching.”
Elite pro Greg Hackney has been the subject of many of those moments. He and Zona became instant friends before his 2004 Rookie of the Year season. A regular guest on Zona shows, Hackney loves to hang with Z and certainly appreciates the standout coverage.
“Honestly, as far as commentators for bass fishing, Zona is second only to Tommy Sanders, in history,” he said. “Both of those guys are so talented but in totally different ways. Zona not only brought knowledge to bass fishing, not only explained the ins and outs to viewers, but he also has that natural gift of comic relief.
“It’s like Jekyll and Hyde. Like he has that serious side because he’s so passionate about the sport, but then he has that really laidback, fun, everybody-wants-to-hang-out-with-Zona side. You cannot teach that. He’s just a naturally gifted person.”
No stranger to TV, Elite pro Mike Iaconelli knew the day was coming but was still shocked at Zona’s announcement. Proud of his fellow “Yankee,” he said Zona created a seismic shift for “the second golden era of B.A.S.S.” Over the years, countless people have told Ike that Zona’s the reason they follow bass fishing.
“It was a critical time in our sport when we got a lot of new people to watch and participate and say, ‘Hey, fishing is cool. It’s not this fringe, bumpkin sport. It’s something that’s fun. I would love to do this,’” Iaconelli said. “I think Zona was a big part of that.
“He made it fun to consume. He made it very relatable to the regular person. He’s one of us. He’s been able to get in our minds, on techniques, emotions. He had this amazing mix of knowledge and the ability to convey what anglers go through in this playful, fun way. That’s like the perfect mix.”
Zona’s greatest alliance was with VanDam. Hailing from the same region, they had crossed paths in tournaments, but they became close through a shared yet trying experience of premature twin boys.
“His were exactly two years after my twins were born premature — same hospital, same NICU, same nurses took care of our sets of twins,” VanDam said. “That’s what made our connection super tight from early on.”
VanDam was among the established pros who told the McKinnises to consider this off-the-wall Zona dude for color analyst.
“First and foremost, he is a fishhead. He’s got the knowledge, he knows the sport, knows the history,” KVD said. “It didn’t take him long to lock right in.”
The VanDam and Zona families visit often and vacation together. Zona well-handled the chore of not showing favoritism to KVD, who was a dominant force with four Classic wins, seven AOY titles and a record 25 wins.
“He’s been there for an unbelievable amount of memories in my career,” VanDam said. “So many times I look over my shoulder and there’s Zona and Sanders sitting in the boat watching me, leading or winning or whatever. It’s been pretty cool.
“What blows me away is, I can’t believe it’s been 20 years, because it doesn’t seem like it.”
VanDam said Zona has always taken his position seriously, putting in the work to study the players and their backstories.
“That’s a big part of the job, knowing the personalities and having those relationships,” KVD said. “There are a lot of anglers that he’s been really close with and a lot that he’s not. You just don’t click with everybody, but he’s been really good at handling both sides of that. It’s not easy. Not everybody is easy to work with, to gain their trust.
“Zona would tell you this. It’s a job. It’s a job he’s been doing for a long time, but it doesn’t feel like a job to him. That’s what he loves. He loves the sport of bass fishing. He loves competitive tournament fishing.”
VanDam said Zona has an affinity for weird and offbeat occurrences, that the “giddy little kid” comes out when something extraordinary occurs.
“Same old, same old, is boring to him,” he said. “When an angler is fishing a different area or going against the grain, you can see the sparkle in his eyes, and it shows on camera.
“You see the same thing in his television show when he can do something out of the norm. Something unexpected, or a person steps up and shines, that’s when you really see him light up.”
Loyalty to closest friends
In 2019, 67 Elite anglers left for MLF in what’s known as “The Split.” Zona was offered a lucrative contract to lead MLF’s coverage, but there was no chance he would split. B.A.S.S. CEO Chase Anderson was appreciative Zona stayed.
A sponsor advised Anderson to speak with Zona on the arising issue, and they’ve been friends since their first call.
“Mark and I had several calls around the time anglers were making their decisions on where to fish, and Mark was really insightful and encouraging. I learned so much about the sport and industry from those calls,” Anderson said. “I reassured Mark that my family was not going to sell B.A.S.S. following the split, and rather we were going to get to work and focus on making B.A.S.S. and the sport better.
“Mark said his heart was with B.A.S.S. and Mike McKinnis and that he trusted what I said and that he would stay with us as we rebuilt the Elite Series. We did that together. Mark and the JM team have certainly helped put B.A.S.S. in the position of strength that we now enjoy.”
Leaving was never really an option, Zona said. B.A.S.S. was the platform that helped build his brand, and he couldn’t leave his friends in the lurch.
“It would have just been tasteless in my opinion … while it was humbling to get the offer, it just was never going to happen — not how I roll,” he said. “I felt a sense of loyalty, most of all to Mike and Tommy, and I never could have looked at them eye to eye if I had rolled.”
Two decades together created a bond that goes far beyond work. McKinnis said Zona and Sanders have been the joy of all JM’s television productions, so Zona’s departure from LIVE does elicit a great sense of loss.
“On a personal level, he always says it and it’s true, he’s my best friend. I like to think I’m his best friend,” McKinnis said. “For 20 years, we have coffee on the phone almost every morning. Talk work first, that’s either Zona Show stuff, sales, or bass fishing with what’s important there and how to be great. And it ends with fantasy football – ‘Bears suck, Chiefs are great.’ ‘Chiefs suck, Bears are great.’
“It’s sad to see him go. He’s got lots to do with his show, with his family, and he’s just ready to move on. Rightfully so.”
The decision to finally end his stint on LIVE came after several years of deep consideration, with McKinnis finding ways to keep him around longer. The pandemic extended his time, allowing Zona to work from his home studio.
Juggling all his projects had stretched Zona thin. He equated his decision to Forrest Gump’s phase where he runs and runs.
“That is what I’ve done for 20 years. I’ve just gone,” he said. “When Forrest stops and says, ‘I’m tired and I want to go home.’ That’s exactly how I felt.
“I overloaded myself, and Mike always tried to balance a schedule for me, which he has no idea how much I appreciate that. With Zona content, my partners’ content and Bassmaster content — I felt this a half decade ago — something was going to give.”
An aspect that weighed into Zona’s decision was that his partners stuck with him for two decades, even at times when he could only give 50 or 75 percent. LIVE is a beast, Zona said, requiring more than a week for each tournament with travel, research and studio time. The award-winning Zona show is even more demanding.
“It’s time to give those companies back what they have given me and my family and my business, and I’ve thought that for several years,” he said. “I’m sorry, but selfishly, and I told Chase Anderson this, Mark Zona Inc. and Zona Show is my baby. I wanted before the end of my career, which I’m not at that right now, to give that baby 100 percent.”
Karin, who Zona often calls the “Scorpion Woman,” saw the wear and tear of running full speed for so long and finally made the call.
“We were on our pontoon, and in the famous words of Zona Show, she said, ‘We’re done.’ It was a Sunday, and on Monday, we were done,” he said.
Done but up for curtain call
Zona’s impact on LIVE extends to some who will take the show into its second decade. Along with lobbying for Mercer, he encouraged Davy Hite to join the team.
Hite met Zona in the 1990s at B.A.S.S. tournament, and despite different backgrounds and accents, they became friends.
“I just never dreamed we would be working together on Bassmaster LIVE. I don’t think he had any idea he’d be doing television for 20 years at B.A.S.S.,” Hite said. “He was just a perfect fit, and our sport is better off for him and Tommy Sanders working together all these years.”
Hite, who won the 1999 Classic and two AOY titles, felt he had several more good years competing but accepted the offer as analyst after the 2016 Elite season, thanking Zona for his endorsement and guidance.
“I may have just gone on and retired as an angler and not been involved in the production if it had not been for Zona,” Hite said. “He had more confidence in me than I did, as far as being able to do color commentary.
“He and Tommy have made it so much easier for me to learn and adjust to my new role. Having great people to work with sure makes your job easier.”
Although possessing a solid sense of humor, Hite admits Zona is a tough act to follow — “I try to have fun, but I can’t come up with some of the stuff he does.”
McKinnis has some ideas and names rattling around in his head to fill the massive void, saying he hopes to try a lot of things, but “we’re not just going to replace Zona. That’s not going to happen.”
Sanders agreed. After his moment of anger, he mostly feels disappointment the partnership ended, yet he’s grateful to have had it.
“You know you’re so lucky. Who gets that opportunity – nobody — to work 20 years in that kind of alliance,” Sanders said. “I can’t be thankful enough for being able to work with that dude. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and I can’t complain.”
“You can’t replace Zona. LIVE will still be good, but it won’t be like that.”
Reunion at BFHOF
The broadcast team will reunite at Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife Museum and Aquarium in Springfield, Mo., on Sept. 26. Zona and McKinnis are among the 2024 inductees to the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame, where they will join Sanders and Hite.
KVD, transitioning from competition to TV, is looking forward to celebrating his friend, then fishing with him more. Hectic schedules kept them apart, and with shared sponsors, it makes sense their paths will cross in front of cameras.
Zona’s not done with the JM crew, which will continue to produce Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show, and he said he might even visit the Little Rock studio more often. Zona said this about the JM way: “If you end a project, more than likely you bury yourself with 10 more projects. I feel like I’m probably headed down that road.”
So while Zona is veering off the LIVE road, it might end up a circle. He’s just thankful because he’s had a “Time!”
“To be able to say your co-workers and bosses are your best friends is a dream. It was a dream, and always will be,” said Zona, adding “Don’t make me cry. Since I walked out of the studio, there has not been a morning that has gone by that I have not woke up and thought about Tommy, Mike, JM and Bassmaster.
“I know I’ll still work with them, and that’s one thing that stands out with me …”
And in Zona fashion, he left with a big laugh.
“Hey, it all may not work and I come back and beg Mike for a job at Bassmaster.”
