Club Business
President Dick O’Donnell presided. Tim Hinton led the prayer and pledge of allegiance to our flag. Mac Williams gave a brief report regarding our county, saying great things are happening. Dick promoted the Self-Help Credit Union, saying it is an amazing asset. Contact the Chamber of Commerce or Dick, if you wish to know more. Joseph gave an update for Feed the Hunger. He says his organization had 10,000 people pack last year without any known cases of the coronavirus being spread. However, the first quarter of 2021 is not looking so great. Food is being distributed at a fast rate, but more packing is needed to meet the demand. Brooke Carpenter said the Heroes Program provides support and a link between Rotary and First Responders. Burlington Police Chief Smythe is our contact. If approved by the district, we will purchase twenty $25 gift cards that can be used as rewards to officers who perform well. All this comes from a mere $100 investment from our club. The district will add another $400.
Membership Spotlight: Kirk Tucker
Dick acknowledged Kirk, who is our newest member. He was born in Panama, where his dad was employed as a diamond core driller with the Core of Engineers. Eventually he and the family moved to Glenwood Springs, CO, which happens to be the burial place for Doc Holiday. However, he feels most connected where the family moved next in Albuquerque, NM, where he attended high school near Roswell. Later his parents moved to Salt Lake City. He attended and graduated from University of Utah. After graduation, he worked in the Cascades and Alaska as a driller. He also worked in Peru. He then went to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, where he decided that he had enough of that life. He found a job with Harley-Davidson, where he stayed for the next 39 years. For several years he was responsible for product development. He ended up being the chief engineer for all their major chassis products. He thoroughly enjoyed his time there.
Kirk has been married for 51 years. He met his wife in Milwaukee. They are members of Alamance Lutheran Church in Burlington. He said they are liberal Lutherans. They are Green Bay and Brewers fans. His hobby is motorcycling, as long as he can still ride. They used to sail a lot. Now he has an RC sailboat. They love opera, theater, art, and books.
Program: Bethany Bradsher – Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament
Bethany Bradsher lives in Greenville, NC. She has been a sports author for the last eleven years. Her works include a biography of Bones McKinney. She also wrote the history the Hardees franchise. Bethany always looks for untold or undertold stories from the sports world. She heard stories every year from the tournament. Her latest book is about the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, a six-day fishing tournament which is held yearly in Morehead City.
About 200 boats have competed in June for the last 60 years. It draws thousands of spectators. The winning blue marlin typically weighs between 500-800 lbs. The prize money is around $1,000,000. It costs about $30K to enter. Boats come back year after year. Many of the crafts are valued in the millions. Michael Jordan entered last year. 95% win nothing. It captures the spirit of the town of Morehead City.
The stakes are so high and the rules are so specific that those who enter fish are required to take a polygraph test. One year a boat was disqualified because one person did not have a valid NC fishing license.
Bethany lives an hour and a half from the boat landing. Boats call in ahead to say they are bringing a fish in for the weigh in. It takes a couple of hours for the boats to get to the dock; so, that gives people time to get there for the event.
The format of the book focuses on the 2018 tournament; although, it includes a history of the tournament in general. In 2018, Bethany was allowed to embed. Truth is stranger than fiction, it turns out. She spent most of the week in the Big Rock office, which allowed her to stay on top of things and interview boat crew workers.
Each crew chooses four of the six days to fish by rule. The Fabulous Fisherman’s prize goes to the first marlin caught over 500 lbs. In 2018, this prize had not been won by the last day; so, Bethany decided to go out on a boat. Her arranged boat forgot her and left early, leaving Bethany stranded on the dock. She decided to hang out at the office. It turned out that there were seven weigh ins while she was there, which was unprecedented. If she had gone out on the boat, she would have missed it. She said that was the best case of being “stood up” ever.
On the last day of the 2019 tournament, Bethany was present when the largest Marlin in the history of the tournament arrived. It weighed 914 lbs. Bethany put this story into her book as the epilogue. She said that writing the book was tremendously gratifying.
She is offering a discount on the book to Rotary members.
In response to various questions, she said the fish are used for research. They are not good for eating. Black Marlin are even larger than blues. Whites are smaller. Fish over 1000 lbs are called “granders.” One is mounted at the Big Rock office. Well-endowed boat owners often hire Morehead City captains and first mates. Some even hire local charter boats.
Conclusion
Mark Gordon, the CEO of ARMC, will be our speaker next week. Dick closed the meeting by leading us in reciting the Four Way Test.