Anybody remember the one and only time the Classic has visited Texas?

There were only a few hundred fans at the weigh-in, only 25 anglers in the field, and the winner took home $25,000. Hank Parker won but not without an assist from another angler.

It was all a far cry from yesterday!

http://heralddemocrat.com/sports/varsity...ged-hank-parker

I think it was Clunn that said Texoma fished small.

Oh heck yeah I remember being there. It was an awesome spectacle at the time. Seems to pale in comparison to the fanfare of today's Classics and the weigh in venues they have but it was great being up close to the greats of the day...and those guys are still legends of the sport!

Yep! Would love to see it there again!

It does fish small for largemouth but not for smallies IMO. They weren't even
in the lake in '79.

I've gotten more smallies over 20" in a year here then in decades of fishing elsewhere.

Could be because I got exactly one smallie over 20" before coming here.

great article, Lynn does a great job.

It was a great article-felt like I was there watching it unfold.

Man, I'm old enough to remember that!! It was GREAT to see so many fishing legends and amateurs getting equal chances to win a BIG tourney!
Even Forrest Wood...I guess the only big name back in the day that wasn't there was Jimmy Houston.
Parker, Clunn, Klein, Wood and all fishing in the same rigs, back when they were well within the $ reach of the average Joe fisherman. Rangers all equipped alike, 115hp Mercury's..(LOL try and fish a rig equipped like that today and be considered a 'serious contender' for the Bass Masters Classic!
Thanks for sharing, man that was GREAT!!!!

Very kind words, thank you for them.

I've always had a special place in my heart for that 1979 Classic on the local home water. When I ran into Hank at the Indianapolis airport following the ATA Show last month, we both had a few minutes to kill before our flights took off. He is so nice and gracious and was more than willing to talk about the '79 Classic. I've always wanted to do a story on the event since not very many people remember it these days and because it is the only one ever held in Texas (so far at least).

What's really amazing to me is that from the "several hundred" that were in attendance each day at the 1979 weigh-ins on Texoma, a decade later when Hank won his second Classic in Virginia, the event had gone big-time. He recalled more than 29,000 - plus an overflow crowd watching in the Expo - being at the final day weigh-in back in 1989.

Great write up there Yakker.

Lynn, Great job on the write up!!

Awesome

Pretty cool, oh have times changed

For those that might be interested, a different column, a few different quotes from Hank:

http://www.majorleaguefishing.com/news_details.aspx?id=13032

I love watching the half hour show.

Funny, but Saturday night I stayed at Tanglewood and parked my Ranger exactly where those first 3-4 are parked.