Posted: 7/16/03

Tournament raises $5,000 for Regions

Joe Drennan
Sports Editor

Forty-five people were looking forward to Wednesdayís First Annual Mark Tipler Celebrity Bass Tournament, but not for the great fishing. Everyone involved was excited to be a part of the inaugural tournament because of the cause and the kids who would benefit from it.

Tipler first posed the idea of a fishing tournament to Regions Hospital earlier this year. Tiplerís idea was to host a celebrity bass tournament to benefit the burn unit there because they had helped him over twenty years ago when he was burned in a house fire.

Director of the Regions burn unit Dr. Lynn Solem said, ìOur first reaction was that we had no idea how something like this worked, but we were surprised and happy about the idea.î

With the help of Regions and many sponsors, Tiplerís idea became a reality Wednesday.

Pro-anglers donated their time and boats to fish with an amateur co-angler for the tournament.

ìPeople pay so much for a guided fishing trip like this, here your getting help a good cause (with your entry fee),î said amateur angler Charlie Metzig. ìI always like to fish and this just makes it better.î

The day started off early when the anglers meet at Willows on the Lake for a hearty breakfast and talked of the threatening weather. After eating, everyone split up into their teams and headed for their boats. Tournament director Danny Suggs started the tournament off at 8:00 a.m., letting boats go out one-by-one until they were all on their way.

Once on their way, teams raced across Forest Lake to find their fishing spots. Cold, windy weather was not helping anyone catch many fish, but everyone did their best to reel in as many fish as they could.

While the anglers were out on the water, Suggs was on shore at Lake Side Memorial Park teaching some kids from the Regions Hospital burn unit some basic fishing techniques, and even told some of his secrets for catching fish.

After Suggsí demonstration, the kids were given fishing poles, tackle boxes, tackle, and some other donated items from tournament sponsors. Many of the kids were so excited they could not get their poles put together fast enough to start fishing.

At 2:00 p.m., all the teams gathered at the Lake Side Memorial Park for the weigh-in. Slowly, but surely, each team came up to the scales and had their fish weighed. After the last team of anglers came through, the total weight winners were pro-angler John Laub and amateur angler Frankie Dusenka. Laub was also the winner of the big fish.

ìDespite the weather it turned out to be a nice day,î Tipler said.

Laub and Dusenka went a step further and became the true winners when they were gracious enough to donate their event and big fish winnings to the Regions Hospital burn unit.

ìMark Tipler is a very good friend and this is a great cause. We (pro-anglers) like to have the opportunity to do this and give back to the community,î Laub said.

During the weigh-ins, Tipler was proud to announce that the tournament had raised $5,000 for the Regions Hospital burn unit.

Proud of the accomplishment, Tipler said, ìThis is fantastic, hopefully in the future we can equal that amount or do better. I hope we can continue to bump that amount up.î

Former Minnesota Viking Joey Browner was on hand to meet-and-greet anglers and kids. Browner said, ìthis is what it is all about, helping each other out.î

Browner was on hand to help raise awareness at the hospital and to give back to the community he said. ìOne day you never know who it might help in your family,î Browner added.

After all the official activities were over many people stuck around to talk, meet other anglers, and some even took kids out to fish. Many people were talking of the success of the tournament for it being the first year and looked forward to many more years of competing in it.

ìIt was a good experience and we would like to see it succeed and keep going,î Solem said.

Tipler was pleased with the tournament as well. ìI am extremely pleased with the way the first year turned out, and this is something we can grow on,î Tipler said.

Tipler is hoping that the event can draw more co-anglers and more people from the public will come out and show support.

As the day came to an end everyone had a smile on their face and all anyone could talk about was next years tournament and how it was going to be bigger and better.

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