ESPN Women's Tour

We get so used to hearing stories of professional athletes' "win at any cost" attitudes, it's refreshing to hear about competitors who go above and beyond to help each other out. Those stories are commonplace among the WBT anglers, who credit a strong sense of family for their desire to help. A couple of Arkansas pros in particular have reached out to help their fellow anglers in this competition.

Lucy Mize, of Ben Lomond, heard that Arizona pro Audrey McQueen hadn't been feeling well. Mize and her husband, Jimmy, also an angler, had an extra boat and knew that driving such a long distance to this competition would be hard on McQueen, so Lucy contacted her and offered the use of the spare boat so she could fly in to Arkansas. So, for this WBT Championship, Mize actually has two boats on the water: her wrapped Triton, and another competing against her for the trophy.

Jan Heavener, of nearby Sherwood, offered her assistance to all of the other WBT competitors before the championship. Knowing that airline baggage fees would force many to look into shipping their equipment here rather than flying with it, and that some might be nervous about trusting that the tools of their trade would be kept safe and waiting for them at the hotel when they arrived, Heavener sent out an e-mail invitation to each lady angler. She offered to let them ship their rods, reels, tackle and so forth, to her home, where she would keep everything safe and deliver it to the owner when she arrived in Hot Springs.

"I live just 45 minutes away and have plenty of room in the boathouse (for storage)," Heavener said. "I know that high prices have everyone trying to save money when they can, and I wanted to help."

Both Heavener and Mize noted that it is a very close-knit group that fishes together in the WBT, and that helping each other out (outside of the actual competition, of course) just seems natural. These ladies could teach the pros of other sports a thing or two about sportsmanship.

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