I'm sure the guy caught the fish. Congrats to him. Monster crappie.
Just making some observations:
The story states new state record white crappie. White crappie must be colored different in NY than white crappie I have seen from waters in TX, LA and MO. Fish he is holding looks more like a black crappie to me. Fish in the second picture laying in some type basket with what appears to be heavy line, looks slightly like a white crappie as you can just see remnants of the black spotted bars.
Slew mentions hybrid and that seems to be more plausible. But I reckon those NY biologists know their fish.
Great story and good fishing everyone

Based on some of the pics I’ve seen, Slewfoot probably has a couple of those…

I caught a 3.07 black/white hybrid on Bob Sandlin. They still haven’t come to a decision on it for the Lake record. I caught it around Christmas.

GEEZ,..whats the holdup,...c'mon man !!