A Loud Voice Nobody Heard?
Bob Ferris' Foghorn Voice Projected Hopes, Dreams

Thursday, November 20, 2003
by Ray Scott

Like a giant redwood falling in the forest when no witness is around: does it make a sound? A loud voice in the history of women's tournament fishing and the sport of bass fishing has gone silent. Sadly, Bob Ferris is dead.

The voice of a lost generation of would-be lady professional bass anglers sounded the hopes and dreams of the followers of the now defunct Bass'N Gals tournament trail. As the husband of the organization's founder, Sugar Ferris, Bob handled the master of ceremonies duties for the all-gal tournament circuit.

For a period, Bass'N Gals had high hopes – and sponsors – to elevate women's bass fishing on par with the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in the sports pages and on the television screens. Unfortunately, the fame and fortune for lady anglers has yet to materialize, and doubtfully will ever surface.

The simple truth is that there's no fanbase or wide interest among TV sports viewers to watch women fish professionally. On the other hand, some outdoor show formats stage women in revealing bikini attire in the setup acts of reeling in fish. This may appeal as so much eye-candy to the male demographics, hustled by the television advertising marketers, but is a turn-off to serious bass anglers.

Hardly the image Sugar and Bob Ferris worked to perfect. With sheer determination, they pulled up ladies bass fishing by the bootstraps during a time (the 1980s) when women who fish couldn't fish with the male tournament anglers.

Bass'N Gals Rise and Fall

Bass'N Gals emerged as a full-blown tournament trail for those who seemed to be cast aside. It was complete with a series of qualifying events and season- ending Bass'N Gals Classic. And, to the organization's and Bob Ferris' promotional ability, women bass anglers gained name recognition. One example was Chris Houston of Cookson, Okla., who stepped out of the shadow of her famous husband, Jimmy Houston. Jimmy is a two-time BASS Angler of the Year. But Chris is a seven-time Angler of the Year on the ladies tour.

For a week this past summer at the Colonial golf tournament, a lady stood on the tee with the men. But Annika Sorenstam, a marquee name on the LPGA circuit, proved only a curiosity for a couple of rounds for daring to challenge the male dominance of the sport of golfdom. As good as Sorenstam plays from the women's tees, she's sub-par against the men on a level playing field. So is the parallel for women bass anglers.

Since women were not invited to fish the all-male Bass Anglers Sportsman Society tournament trail, some suggested women could compete rod-to-rod with bass fishermen. Skills, not strength, was the governing factor, they argued.

At a time when women's rights groups were massing to challenge the male dominance in sports – particularly in college athletics – women's participation in fishing took a turn and, as it proved, not necessarily for the better.

After much back-pedaling and a gloved threat from the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers about "equal access to fishing," B.A.S.S. Inc. headed by Helen Sevier dropped the bassin' barrier for women. Voja Reed of Broken Arrow, Okla. -- the wife of 1987 BASS Masters Classic winner Charlie Reed -- cracked the B.A.S.S. Tournament Trail's glass ceiling.

For the moment, would-be lady pro bassers cheered. They would show their hairy- legged opponents the "reel facts." Major sponsors lined up to support the women's efforts and reel in the publicity surrounding women coming of age in bass tournament fishing.

But the supposedly chauvinistic downfall ended up, perhaps, felling the support timbers of the Bass'N Gal circuit. The sponsorship dollars squeezed to a drip and slowly turned off.

In the end, Bob and Sugar Ferris turned off the lights at Bass'N Gal headquarters in Arlington, Texas. "When Mercury Motors dropped the title sponsorship for Bass'N Gals, we had to call it quits," Bob admitted to his close friend Harold Sharp. Founded in 1976 with 500 charter members. Bass'N Gals had grown to over 33,000 when the plug was pulled in 1998.

As the former tournament director for the B.A.S.S. Tournament Trail, Harold received frequent phone calls from Bob before and after Bass'N Gals went under.

At one point, Harold offered Ferris an idea to keep the Bass'N Gal trail afloat and the women's tour cooking: "Get Helen Sevier and B.A.S.S. to buy it." Ferris liked the idea, but Harold got no support from B.A.S.S.'s front office. "They (Helen) could have had the Bass'N Gal name, organization and tournament roster for the sum of $10,000, but didn't bite on the deal," recalls Harold, now head of Fishin' Talents, a pro angler's agency, based in Hixson, Tenn.

The End?

And that about sums up the closing chapter of the once promising Bass'N Gals organization. With Sugar and Bob Ferris out of the game, a Pelham, Ala. group headed by Willie Cook made a bid to pump life into the women's fishing effort under the banner of the Women's Bass Fishing Association (WBFA). Willie and friends had a brief footnote in women's bass fishing, holding their own championship series and produced a WBFA Outdoors magazine – "the women's source for Fishing and Outdoor Activities" – but have failed to build industry-wide interest.

For women in bass fishing, it's the tale of the "Catch-22." A paradox where angling alternatives cancel things (hopes) out. But, in the sports world, fins aren't the only end. Recently, the Women's Professional Soccer League, spawned out of the success of the Women's World Cup three summers ago, apparently has stubbed its collective toe and has called it quits.

Could women bassers, finally, get a break? The new head of ESPN Outdoors is a woman, Christine Godleski, who replaces VP Michael Rooney and oversees all of the ESPN cable system's outdoors programming. "Her leadership, vision and passion for the outdoors make her the ideal candidate to take us to the next level," stated Mark Quenzel, ESPN senior VP of programming and production.

Does the next level crack the glass ceiling in women's bass fishing? Try to connect the dots, but it's a reach. The women's LPGA is seeing fewer golf tournaments, the Professional Women's Bowling Association is throwing gutterballs and there's the aforementioned women's pro soccer demise -- where's does that leave the future of women in bass fishing?

There's little hope for the women bassers having a league of their own. Even ESPN, owners of the B.A.S.S. Tournament Trail franchise, won't televise a tour minus corporate sponsor support. And without a television package to draw fan interest, sponsors have no interest.

So, as time has marked the passing of the Bass'N Gals dream, we mourn the passing of its strongest voice, Bob Ferris. Sadly, as the tree crashing in the woods with no one around, evidently nobody heard it.

As tribute to the contribution of Bass 'N Gals to the world of women's bass fishing, founder Sugar Ferris is among 15 nominees for the 2004 induction into the Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame in Hot Springs, Ark. And also among the candidates is Christine Houston, who won three Bass 'N Gal Classics.

"It wasn't easy when women first decided to invade the world of men's professional bass fishing in the late 1970s," remarked Sugar in a biographical note to the Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame nominating committee. "But I've always been of the impression that women needed to supply adequate challenges for their own gender and stop worrying about discrimination. I'm proud that I have been able to help women establish their own traditions in the world of professional bass angling."

And as to the "15 minutes of fame" for women trying to play in the men's game, Sugar advises: "It is true that a woman who succeeds in a field of men will enjoy more attention and glory than a woman at the top of the woman's field, but such elitism creates a false set of standards and helps perpetuate the old problem of women not developing a history and tradition of their own."