In The Beginning It Was Ray Scott
Ray still owned B.A.S.S. when I was hired in 1985. I had already been a member for a few years after a buddy took me bass fishing in junior college and told me that I needed to join. I couldn’t believe that I was lucky enough to go to work there. I guess being an Auburn grad and having ties to Montgomery helped. I also remember being told by my boss at the time, that one of the reasons they hired me was because I had been a long-time athlete, most recently as a catcher for the Auburn Tigers.
I was in awe of getting to work for this cool company that had this great membership, that published an awesome magazine with Bassmaster, but also had athletic events with athletes competing on huge bodies of water in all kinds of conditions. And I got to be a part of the company that Ray Scott founded.
Of course, as a young sales guy, I was insulated from day-to-day work that might include him and as fate would have it, he sold his ownership to Helen Sevier a little more than a year after I arrived.
But I was assigned a role with the BASS Master Classic very early on, Chattanooga it was, and there I got to witness the magic that Ray created. And I got to witness the magician at his finest.
Classic after Classic for the next 15 years or so, I saw Mr. Scott keep arenas full of bass fishing fans enthralled for several hours each day of the 3-day event. And, I mean arenas filled with 20,000 fans, and standing room only. At a few Classics, auxiliary seating in adjacent theaters had to be set-up so fans could watch there because they didn’t get a seat in the arena. For me it was the equivalent of watching the Tigers for 4 quarters at Jordan Hare.
There was just something magical about watching a pre-weigh-in laser light show filled with Americana, patriotism, bass fishing history and Mr. Ray Scott’s over the top appearance. Whether he appeared in a cloud of smoke, through a multi-colored waterfall or flew in from the rafters in a rocket ship, it was magical.
And, when the spotlight hit Ray in the darkness of the show, illuminating his immaculate Stetson, standard ascot tie, and leather tasseled jacket (his teal colored was my fav) every bass fishing fan was on their feet cheering for the Bass Boss. 20,000 fans clapping and hollering their approval of Ray’s arrival at the weigh-in would make the hairs on your arm stand up.
Then he would climb onboard the Ranger Boat weigh-in stage centered perfectly so every fan could see, and he would start talking to his people. “Let’s hear it A team, let’s hear it B team. And from there he would weigh-in the Classic athletes, knowing every detail about them, I imagine mostly from memory until he crowned each year’s BASS Master Classic Champion.
It was and remains magical, because of Ray.