ESPN Classic

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Fifty anglers, nearly 600 bass and $1.2 million in prize money made the 37th Bassmaster Classic a reality, but they could not define it. As usual, the greatest stage in bass fishing brought forth another host of memories. Here are some that, years from now, may well have entered Classic lore.

1. Terry McWilliams' Day 3 weigh-in. If you had sized up the program before the Day 3 weigh-in, this would have seemed a most unlikely candidate to become the Classic's most memorable moment. McWilliams, a Federation Nation qualifier fishing in his first Classic, had done an admirable job fishing through two days, boating 27 pounds, 13 ounces of fish, good enough for ninth.

But when he walked across the stage on Sunday with his bag, the crowd gasped — it was as though he had stopped for groceries on the way to the arena. To that point, the largest stringer of the day was Jason Quinn's 14-2. McWilliams' five fish tipped the scales at 17-6 — amazingly without a fish weighing even four pounds.

The 57-year-old former state trooper from Greenfield, Ind., pumped his fists, raised his two biggest bass in celebration and pointed them at the crowd.

Then emcee Keith Alan asked him to describe the moment, and McWilliams thanked the Federation for helping him to parlay $150 in entry fees and expenses into a chance to fish for $500,000 and a Classic trophy. At that moment, the semi-pro angler was living the dream: On stage, all eyes on him, with a suddenly sizeable lead in the Classic, thanking those who brought him there.

Then, without warning, McWilliams elevated the moment from warm to truly inspiring.

"Today's been a very emotional, up-and-down day for me," he said, and then his words came with difficulty as he choked up. He told the audience that earlier in the week, at a dinner, the anglers had been asked to pray for the 4-year-old son Kevin Luebke who was suffering from a liver disorder. The sorrow in his voice made it sound as though his own son were near death. He implored the crowd, in a plea that took literally minutes to get out amid his momentary pauses to collect his emotions, to pray for the boy and his little sister, because "one day that boy could go fishing, maybe not the Bassmaster Classic, but he could go fishing somewhere."

The old cliché didn't quite apply: There were still a few dry eyes in the house, but only those that were being daubed with a tissue. For one incredible moment, McWilliams had transcended the pyrotechnic, flag-saluting, foot-stomping spectacle of the weigh-in and touched people in a way that many will remember long after they forget the name of a guy who hadn't fished a Classic before, very well may never again.

2. Boyd Duckett catches a second kicker Everyone says you need a big fish to win the Classic. On Sunday, Duckett boated his second. With only about an hour left to fish, Duckett hauled aboard a 6-pound, 9-ounce largemouth that propelled him to a 6-ounce win over Skeet Reese. With that fish, the biggest of the final day, Duckett bookended the massive 8-2 bass he caught on Friday. A bag containing just those two fish would have bettered 21 of the 25 bags weighed on the tournament's final day.

While the Classic is all about fish catching, that specific moment in time shaped this one forever.

3. Gerald Swindle's wrenching apology After his Day 2 disqualification, Gerald Swindle's image as a brash, fast-talking hotshot took on another dimension. His tearful apology on-stage brought down a hail of applause and cheers from his hometown crowd, and at his press conference an hour later, it was all he could do to keep from weeping openly.

"It's not just another tournament," he struggled to say. "It's my life."

4. Kevin VanDam's Day 2 weigh-in One writer called it VanDam's "trademark dose of fishing cruelty."

The world's greatest bass angler had a merely adequate first day — then absolutely smoked 'em on Day 2, weighing in a 19-14 bag that matched Boyd Duckett's first-place bag on Day 1. When he triumphantly brandished two jumbo bass at the second weigh-in (including a 5-7 largemouth that was the largest of the day) the lead and the momentum became VanDam's to lose.

To the surprise of almost everyone who witnessed that display, though, he finished only third after a disappointing final day.

5. Alabamian Boyd Duckett takes Classic trophy in Birmingham If this was a year for the streak to break, this was going to be it.

In 36 Classics, no angler had won the tournament in his home state, but with nine anglers hailing from Alabama in this Classic, the odds looked unusually good  especially after a Day 1 that saw three Alabamian anglers make the top four.

"I'm really tickled about the home state angle," Duckett, from Demopolis, Ala., said after his win. "All of us, Timmy (Horton), Russ (Lane) and everyone else talk and we all said how great it'd be."

6. Timmy Horton boats two keepers on one cast Because he turned in a woeful two-fish bag on Sunday and slid to 16th, this is a side note. But if Horton, who entered the final day in fifth place, had finished strong, this could have been the moment of the tournament. On his second cast of the second day, Horton snagged two 3 ½ pounders on the trebles of his crankbait, and he did it, fortunately, right in front of an ESPN camera. The sight of Horton laughing with joyous disbelief as the fish dangled from his line was one that will stay with spectators well after those two unlucky spots were returned to Lay Lake.

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