“I tell new members the only thing we require in our club is a love for fishing and a sense of humor. If you have those two things, you will fit in well with us.”
TRI STATE BASS CLUB

Thirty-two years ago Terry Locke, Cy and Howard Glazier, and David Joseph sat at Howard’s dining room table and decided to try and start a bass club (based in the Memphis, Tennessee area). We came up with our club name using part of an ad in the January 1973 edition of Bassmaster Magazine. The four of us each drew a design for a logo, met again two days later, put the four drawings together, and came up with the logo that we still use today.

We began to talk about rules for the club, and after a lengthy discussion decided to adopt the rules/bylaws of B.A.S.S. Other than a few minor changes, we still follow those rules today.

We also decided to make this a fun fishing club. We set the club up to fish for trophies only, no money prizes. Thirty-two years later we still have never fished for money in any of our tournaments.

We held our first tournament in March 1973 on Lake Lamar Bruce in Tupelo, Mississippi. The temperature was 38 degrees. The wind chill was 25 degrees. We had nine members, and six fished. One member had a boat for he and his partner. The other four of us rented two boats at the dock. There were no fish caught.

This past November we held our 289th tournament (with better results than the first one). We did have success over the years though. That first year our membership quickly rose to 18, we had several really good tournaments, and we held a tournament at Lakeview for the kids at St. Peter’s Children’s Home. We continued this tradition for several years until liability became a major issue.

We held 10 tournaments that first year. After that, we dropped the number to nine. We do not have a tournament in January through March.

We have had as many as 30 members and as few as 12, but we have always continued to fish and have fun. We had meetings everywhere from the office at C & C Floor Service on Goodman Road, to a recreation room in a mobile home park in Oakhaven, to the VFW Club house in Collierville, to
Lakeview Boat Dock, to the old Schlitz Belle.

Back around 1989 we adopted the “paper tournament” —to help promote catch and release. We have not had a conventional weigh-in since then. We score our fish by length: a 12-inch fish is 6 points, and every added 1/4-inch is another point. You measure your fish, record the length, and let it go.

Partners check each other on the measurement. We also rely on the “honor system.”

I can’t remember exactly when, but I think it was some time in the ’90s the radiothon for St. Jude started. We have donated to it every year since then.

Before the radiothons, we just sent in a yearly contribution. One of our member’s wives (Mrs. Kathy Connelly) works at St. Jude, so we always have someone to help us remember our donation.

I tell new members the only thing we require in our club is a love for fishing and a sense of humor. If you have those two things, you will fit in well with us. I guess you could say we based this club on three things that still work for us today: fellowship, fun, and of course fishing.

We now have 16 members and half of us are in our 50s and 60s. We still love to fish and have fun. It just doesn’t take as long as it used to for some of us to have fun. We used to fish from before daylight till after dark. Now we fish from safe light until 3 p.m.

I’m the only original member left in the club. I’ve seen a lot of people come and go over the years, and it has really been an experience. As president for the last 20 years, it has been both an experience and a challenge. It’s also been and still is something I really enjoy. I don’t think I could have
met a better bunch of people doing anything else. The friendships we have developed over the years with our wives and children are priceless. I just wish it could last forever.

 
   

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