Believe it or not I was once an athlete. I lived for sports—mainly baseball and basketball—and found that sports centered me. They were something that I had to work hard in for success and due to my small size, I had to be twice as good as those I competed with to get playing time.

The men I looked up to in my childhood were my dad, uncles and grandpas and my heroes were all sports figures. The game of the week with Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese was mandatory. As my skills waned athletically I found that competition was still important to me and fishing competitively filled that void.