A week before this tournament began, I talked to Rick Clunn about his state of mind as he approached another season on the Bassmaster Elite Series tour. The lead of the story was as follows:
Rick Clunn is 72 years old, yet he remains as exhilarated as a teenager about tournament bass fishing. That paradox of age and excitement begs the question made famous by pitching legend Satchel Paige, who at age 42 became the oldest rookie in Major League Baseball history: “How old would you be, if you didn’t know how old you was?”
Clunns’ answer: “Twenty-eight or twenty-nine. That’s not just because I love to fish, and I love what I’m doing. It’s life in general.”
After catching not one, but now two bass in the 10-pound range this afternoon, putting him in contention for what would be his second Elite Series win on the St. Johns River, I wonder how young Clunn is feeling now.