Classically motivated
Duncan changing students' lives through Fishing Club
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That's when one of Duncan's heroes, four-time Classic champion Rick Clunn, made a special effort to say thank you.
All the other pro anglers had gone back to their hotel rooms, trying to catch some much-needed sleep before another long day on the water, when Duncan was introduced as the Bass Anglers Sportsman's Society Federation Man of the Year. The Springdale (Ark.) Central Junior High counselor was being recognized at that evening's banquet for over 25 years of teaching kids to fish and changing their lives in the process. When Duncan started "Fishing Club" at the school in 1982, he couldn't imagine it leading to a moment like this.
"It was 11:45 when I finished my speech," Duncan recalled with a smile. "I had people in the audience crying. When I walked back to my seat, I was crying.
"I felt a tap on my shoulder, and it was from Rick Clunn. He was the only pro who had stayed for that entire banquet. He told me I'd made a great speech.
"I said, 'Mr. Clunn, hearing you say that is the greatest honor of my life.'
"He said, 'No, I bow to you.'
"I was a basket case after that."
Clunn isn't the only person willing to go out of his way to thank Duncan for his work with kids. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was quick to pause on the campaign trail recently and provide a comment about Duncan. During his tenure as Arkansas' governor, he'd become familiar with Duncan's work at Springdale Central Junior High and used it as an example in establishing the state's "Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs" program.
"While from an outdoorsman's point of view it's fair to say that Ron has probably taught more kids to fish than anyone in our state," Huckabee said, "it's accurate to say that Ron has influenced as many lives as any teacher I know. I wish every kid in America had Ron Duncan as a teacher."
Wes Campbell, president of TTI-Blakemore, is another person unhesitant to sing Duncan's praises. The Wetumka, Ala., company started in 1959, when Campbell's father invented Tru-Turn hooks. Duncan, who qualified for the Arkansas BASS Federation Fishing Championship six times and was a member of the 1995 Northwest Arkansas Bassmasters team that won the state championship, has been a part of the TTI pro staff for many years.
About 10 years ago, Campbell was traveling between Bass Pro Shops headquarters in Springfield, Mo., and Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., when a winter snowstorm forced him into an overnight stay in Eureka Springs, Ark.
Campbell and a few other TTI employees ordered pizza delivered to their hotel and were sharing it with other stranded travelers when Campbell started a conversation with a young man who had noticed the "Tru-Turn" logo on Campbell's shirt.
"I remember this like it was yesterday," Campbell said. "I asked the guy where he was from and he said Springdale, Arkansas. I told him that our company had a pro staff member in Springdale — Ron Duncan.
"The young man had tears in his eyes when he turned to me and said, 'Ron Duncan. That man saved my life. He got me off drugs and into fishing.'"
Added Campbell, "This guy had his boat with him. He was supposed to fish a tournament the next day. I start tearing up every time I tell that story. If you could have seen the look on that young man's face..."
Is it starting to seem like every story about the 56-year-old Duncan involves the shedding of tears? That's no coincidence — Duncan is practically "Mister Cry Me A River."
"The night Ron Duncan was inducted to the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame was a very special moment," recalled Huckabee of the October night in 2004 when Duncan was honored by that organization. "He couldn't hold back the tears, and neither could I.
"Others have been inducted who are better known, but few, if any, are more deserving. Ron pioneered 'Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs' before there was a national program with state affiliates. He launched the first of its kind fishing club in the junior high at which he was a teacher, and inspired the concept that we used to encourage HOFNOD chapters across the state.
"Ron loves fishing, but loves kids even more. He used his love of both to help instill discipline, teach science, encourage responsibility, and promote conservation — all at the same time."
Okay, now you can put away your handkerchiefs. As someone who first wrote about Duncan and the Springdale Central Junior High Fishing Club in 1990, I can report that laughter and unrestrained joy are the most common emotions expressed during fishing club activities.
The same was true this past November when on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving 127 fishing club members — yes, one hundred twenty-seven — skipped school and spent several hours on Beaver Lake, divided among 16 professional guides' boats, in search of striped bass.
"This is fun," said eighth-grader Lindsay Cain about Central's Fishing Club, shortly after landing a 6-pound striper this past November. "Plus, I get out of school and get to spend lots of time with my friends."
So how did Springdale Central Junior High's Fishing Club get to be so cool that Duncan had to limit the membership to around 400 kids a year? And how do Cain and so many of her friends get an excused absence from school to go fishing? And, most important, how does a junior high activity club that meets for only 40 minutes once a month during the school year have such a profound effect on so many of its young members?
Pep Club was the most popular activity club at Springdale Central Junior High when Duncan started Fishing Club in 1982. As someone who grew up on a farm near the small southwest Missouri town of Wheaton, Duncan knew the pleasures of spending a day outdoors, whether floating on an Ozark stream, fishing for smallmouth bass, or following his father's bird dogs, hunting for quail.
Duncan wanted to give his students an avenue to enjoy the outdoors as he had as a youth. And although he's a big-time professional and college sports fan (don't badmouth the Kansas City Royals in his presence), Duncan thought there was too much emphasis on the "ball sports" — football, basketball and baseball — in the community where he lived and the school where he worked.
"First of all, I consider fishing a major sport," said Duncan, a long-time bass tournament competitor. "I'm tired of ball-headed people who think their sport is the only one in the world."
Greg Bohannan would later star on the Springdale High School football team and gain a football scholarship to Arkansas Tech University, where he earned a degree in agribusiness. But Central's Fishing Club allowed him to pursue a passion greater than football. Bohannan was one of the first presidents of Fishing Club. This year, at age 36, Bohannan has qualified for the FLW bass fishing championship, the Forrest Wood Cup.
"I was in one of the very first fishing clubs," said Bohannan, who recently quit his job as a Tyson Foods plant manager to develop his career as a full-time bass fishing pro. "I was in the seventh grade, and we had probably 12 or 15 members."
Bohannan grew up on a farm and dreamed of being a professional bass angler before Fishing Club came along, so you can't list him among those Duncan "converted." However, you can include him as one of Duncan's admirers, and as someone who'll never forget what the club meant to him — and many others — since.
"That club starts getting you focused on the opportunities in the outdoors," said Bohannan. "I think Ron is doing a wonderful thing. For some kids, it's all they have to keep them occupied, to keep them from drifting into negative things.
"I know he's making a difference in those kids' lives. I can't say enough positive things about what Ron is doing."
Shortly after Bohannan's junior high years, Duncan's Fishing Club quickly grew from that original "dirty dozen" to the most popular activity club in the school. One year, almost every student in the school signed up for Fishing Club. While flattered by the popularity, Duncan knew that number — over 1,000 — was unworkable.
So he added a prerequisite: You must either pay $5 or write a paragraph about why you want to join Fishing Club. That, along with the Springdale school system's change to include only eighth and ninth grades at Central (instead of seventh through ninth), has helped Duncan keep participation down to an average of 400 kids a year.
Although there are only 40 minutes of meeting time each month during school hours, Duncan schedules an away-from-school activity for almost every month of the school calendar.
A typical year's schedule of off-campus events looks like this:
In the monthly meetings, held during school hours each month, Duncan schedules a guest speaker. Past speakers have included local fisheries biologists, outdoor writers, former University of Arkansas basketball coach Nolan Richardson (who can inspire on any subject), Bassmaster Elite Series pro Mike McClelland of Bella Vista and Bohannan, who enjoys returning to his roots.
"I'm glad to go back every year," Bohannan said. "If I keep being successful (on the pro bass tour) I hope to do more in the future. I'm amazed now when I go back and ask how many kids would like to be pro bass fishermen. Probably 50 or 60 kids raise their hands. Nobody thought about that being a possible career when I was in Fishing Club.
"But the main thing is that you know if there are 400 kids in Fishing Club, at least 50 percent of them would never get exposed to the outdoors if not for Ron. I know he's making a big impression on those kids, and he has their respect."
Duncan is married and has a grown daughter. This is his 34th year in the Springdale school system — the first 10 as a civics teacher, before moving into counseling. Duncan is quick to credit dozens of volunteers, who in particular have made the off-campus activities possible. For instance, Beaver Lake striper fishing guides Lee and Becky Winkler of Lowell have been in charge of the kids' striper tournament the last few years, rounding up guides from Arkansas and Oklahoma to make it possible for those 127 junior high students to participate last fall.
And Duncan's been blessed with generous sponsors, including TTI/Blakemore, Arkie Lures, Shakespeare, Wal-Mart and War Eagle Lures.
However, each year for the past five, Duncan has been saying it will be his last. Three decades is enough for anyone at any job. Then Duncan starts thinking about miracles, and he agrees to work another year at Springdale Central Junior High.
Duncan woke up one winter morning in 1998 and prepared to go to his counselor's job at Central. Then he heard an announcement on the radio that school had been cancelled for the day due to icy road conditions.
Since Duncan had been putting off renewing his Arkansas driver's license, and he suddenly had nothing else scheduled that day, he decided to drive to the local state revenue office and get his license renewed. He walked in the door and saw four women waiting to help him, with none of the usual long lines in front of them.
He walked up to the closest worker's station and, while still marveling over how well the day was turning out for him, heard the woman say, "You're Ron Duncan, aren't you?"
The woman proceeded to explain to Duncan how she knew who he was and how much she appreciated something he'd done 10 years ago. Her son joined Duncan's Fishing Club as a seventh-grader with no previous fishing experience. After realizing that year how much the son enjoyed fishing, his father started taking him every weekend during the boy's eighth- and ninth-grade years.
"My husband died suddenly, and everything blew up in my son's face," Duncan recalled the woman saying. "I thought he was going to kill himself. The only thing that saved him was fishing. Every time he'd get really sad, thinking about his father, he'd go fishing. I think that's the only thing that got him through high school.
"The very thing that brought them together is what saved him after his father died. He had fishing to fall back on."
Needless to say, Duncan left the state revenue office with a renewed driver's license and two streams of tears running down his face.
"I get very passionate talking about Fishing Club," Duncan said. "Half my life is wrapped up in it. Why shouldn't I be passionate about it?
"And every year there's a little miracle, because a kid gets into fishing."
