Photograph #36: Landon
This photo, this simple photo, is one of my favorite pictures of all time.
All time.
It is of a child waiting for his father, universal in meaning and feelings
The child is Landon, he was much younger than this when If first met him.
His father is jTodd Tucker who at the time was a Bassmaster Elite angler, Landon is sitting on the end of a dock waiting for jTodd to come in for weigh-in.
I’ve watched Landon grow, heard about his school, heard about his college, heard about his fishing following in the footsteps of his dad and his grandfather, Butch Tucker.
And then one day last year I get a text msg, it says “Landon,” so I open it…
…and this is what appears on my phone.
Down the road some more, another text from Landon and it is an invite to his wedding to his beautiful bride, Camryn.
At many events people would come up and say hello to me, take selfies that I always looked awful in, have me sign stuff during which we would have small talk, several times I was asked about the job, asked about benefits, did I get benefits doing what I do for a living….
…
I was among the lucky ones, yes I did get benefits at BASS…
…you are looking at it.
I got a road family…and a bunch of semi-adopted children.
ETCHED!
Photograph #37: Uncle Buff
Uncle Buff…part of the Tucker family and on the road to cheer on jTodd Tucker.
Uncle Buff was a great friend of mine, we spent a bunch of time together between launch and weigh-in. Roomed together when a several of us rented a house for a week at an event.
I don’t remember the event but we had a nice house with a spare room and Uncle Buff came and stayed, we would go to launch, come back to the house and Uncle Buff would cook for me and whom ever else walked in the door.
At the end of the event, the last gig of the year, we hugged, said goodbyes and, “See ya next season.”
But I never saw him again. He got sick, ended up in the hospital in Oklahoma.
I remember driving home from some gig, it was December, I was on a highway driving up the backside of Virginia about to enter Maryland the Pennsylvania, the phone rings and it is Uncle Buff calling from a hospital in Oklahoma. We talk for a half hour or so, I wish him a Merry Christmas as the phone signal fades within the hills of PA.
Three days later he passed.
The next time I was in Oklahoma I drove to Duncan and left a BASS hat on his grave.
He was a friend, He was a roomie, He was Uncle Buff…
…and I miss him dearly.
ETCHED!
Photograph #38: Chris & Jim
Chris & Jim.
As you may be able to tell I’m not a huge fan of bosses.
That’s not on the bosses, that’s on me.
I believe most bosses get in the way especially those who have never done what I do but somehow think they can tell me how to do it.
The best bosses HELP, not HINDER.
The best bosses have your back, they check facts, in my case also grammar, spelling especially, but they let me be me.
It was never a competition between them and me as to who could write better, never about style, it was always about help.
Chris, the guy on the left, was in charge of the internet at BASS, he had all that to do and then right in the middle of it I would send in some whacko story with lots of photos and he was magical in putting it together.
The guy on the right was in charge of lots of things at BASS, me included. I know I made his boss life a little crazy/uncomfortable at times, some of that was sort of my job, most was not.
Jim, that’s his name, gave me one of the greatest compliments of my entire career…he let me, he asked me, to write a story about/with his parents in Knoxville, TN. where he grew up.
I’ve had dozens and dozens of bosses, none of which ever took me home to meet their parents, I was honored and floored at the same time.
Can’t say how lucky I was that my last bosses were my best bosses, my wife of 50 years is almost used to me now, she has come to understand what she calls the “Gemini,” within me.
I was born in June, somehow the stars have something to do with that, or me.
Both these guys seemed to understand that as well.
They are not my bosses anymore.
They will always be best friends of mine though.
I thank them for the help and not the hinder.
I thank them for protecting my back which I know they must have had to do.
I thank them from talking me off the ledge and for catching me when I fell.
They are simply, the best.
Family.
ETCHED!
Photograph #39: Yearly Dinner
It began one year at a Classic, my two friends, Chris Brown (middle guy at the table) and Mark Copley (guy across from me) would pick one night to meet for dinner…just three buds, nothing to do with BASS or the event.
We did it for years like this.
The last couple years though both guys lived close to the event so they brought their families with them to dinner.
Mark with his wife and son, Chris with his son.
I can’t tell you how fun those dinners were, complete laugh-a-thon from beginning to end.
I can tell you though how those few hours took the tension away from the big event of the Classic.
Adding family meant it wasn’t a dinner where all the talk centered on the gig we were trying to get away from for a couple of hours… now the attention was on family and funny stories.
The break recharged me and I think helped get better Classic columns out of me.
And it made all of us at the table…FAMILY.
ETCHED!
