Bob Cobb:
A Man For All BASS Seasons

Tuesday, April 11, 2006
by Ray Scott

Yet Bob Cobb just might have been the most important person in the Orange Country Convention Center at the '06 event. As far as I'm concerned, he ranks among the most important men in the history of BASS and the sport of bass fishing.

Cobb was there to receive the BASS Lifetime Achievement Award and I was the one honored to present it to him. But the real story started years before. About 40 years to be more precise.

The setting was Springdale, Ark. and I was pitching plans for my first All American Bass Tournament at Beaver Lake to a group of skeptical writers. The tournament was to be the first step in my endeavor to make bass fishing a nationally recognized competitive sport.

Photo: Ray Scott Outdoors Ray Scott notes that, as first professional editor of Bassmaster magazine, Bob Cobb shaped the publication into the "Bible of bass fishing" for anglers around the world.

He and I knew that in 1967 if you couldn't punt, dribble or hit it, sport pages didn't report it. To make the newspaper headlines, there had to be a game. My proposed tournament-style bass fishing would provide the W-L (winners-losers) standings – the facts and figures the sports fan or sports reporter understood. My first bass tournament at Beaver Lake in June 1967 proved the point and changed the face of bass fishing forever.

Cobb's good press as outdoor editor of the Tulsa Tribune (within the sphere of Beaver Lake) really helped make that happen and we stayed in touch. Then less than 2 years later, Bob Cobb packed up his wife Barbara and two little kids in an old car (and airlifted two birddogs) and moved to Montgomery, Ala. and an uncertain future.

He would take up the position as editor of Bassmaster magazine, the publication I was personally editing and sending to members of the brand-new organization I called the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (or B.A.S.S.) for short.

I happily introduced Bob as "the first editor that could actually read and write" and handed him a cardboard box full of hand-written manuscripts submitted by members of the fledgling society's 2,000 odd readers.

Scrawled on sheets, some from a Big Chief tablet, were how-to techniques and the wisdom of years-on-the-water experiences, all willingly unveiled by the angler to fellow members. As Bassmaster magazine's editor, Cobb eagerly uncovered the many buried gems, marveling at the innovations and winning ways of the successful bass angler. Cobb understood it was pure gold – the kind of stuff anglers across the country yearned for.

That year was 1969 and Bob Cobb and I and three other employees worked from a ramshackle building across from a tombstone company – a constant reminder of our possible fate. As the first professional editor of Bassmaster magazine, Cobb would shape and mold the magazine into what many called the "Bible of bass fishing."

At the same time, as we all did, he wore other hats as well, including that of director of the BASS News Service and press director for the tournaments and the Classics to come.

Photo: Ray Scott Outdoors Cobb was highly recognizable as creator of The Bassmasters TV series, which he wrote, directed, produced and often participated in as onscreen host.

At my request, Cobb turned Bassmaster magazine over to a very capable Dave Precht and took on yet another challenge – producing, directing and writing the award-winning TV series, The Bassmasters. Keep in mind Cobb had no experience in "moving pictures."

As mastermind of The Bassmasters, Cobb quickly assembled a team of top outdoor communicators and the weekly half-hour program climbed to the top of the ratings on the Nashville Network (TNN), then a showcase for outdoor programming. The average weekend audience numbered over 1.3 million homes. Twice The Bassmasters received the highest tribute from the cable TV industry – two nominations for the annual ACE award for excellence in programming.

In his multiple roles as producer, director, writer and at times on-air host, Cobb produced over 250 programs and Bassmaster Classic specials.

Now being the creator of both a groundbreaking magazine and TV series might be enough for most men, but not Bob Cobb. He was a front-line soldier in every BASS endeavor, whether it was preaching catch and release, taking on polluters or lobbying Congress for the Wallop-Breaux Bill that today funds every state fishery department in the nation.

And Cobb was right by my side when we created the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation, sponsored youth programs and transformed fishing and boating safety for all anglers. Cobb's fingerprints are all over the bass fishing world as we know it today. His own language like "test of the best" and "cast for cash" became the language of the sport.

So it was no surprise to me when he was elected to the Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame in 2002, joining other notables as Johnny Morris, Jimmy Houston, Denny Brauer and Cotton Cordell.

As I addressed the enthusiastic crowd at the 36th annual Bassmaster Classic in Orlando, I had to marvel at the beautiful state-of-the-art facility and staging with live coverage by the world's premier sports network, ESPN. I asked the crowd to take a moment to thank Bob Cobb, because it was on an amazing road trip to Atlanta in 1970 that he and I together hatched the idea of a world championship for bass fishermen. We decided to call it the Bassmasters Classic.

And there we both were in Orlando, a long, long way from our first Classic weigh-in on a marina rooftop near Las Vegas. My microphone was a simple bullhorn. Bob's tools were a notepad, Nikon camera, telephone and his old Royal manual typewriter. Bob's equipment was transformed over the next 30 years, but his drive for excellence and extraordinary perception of the sport never changed.

So BassFan readers, if Ray Scott is the creator and founder of BASS, I am proud to honor its co-founder – a remarkable, talented man – and my great friend to boot: Bob Cobb. Today we're all traveling the glorious trail he helped blaze so many years ago. Congratulations Bob Cobb on the 2006 BASS Lifetime Achievement Award.