The First bass Professor
COLUMN
FOR THE RECORD
everybody gets ideas ; lights come on in people ’ s heads . And then , over time , most of the lights dim to darkness and life goes on . The brilliance gives way to the banal . The sure thing becomes the long shot . Yet some people follow through and actually succeed .
Stephen Lutz is one of them . The quiet , unassuming Illinois native can rightfully lay claim to being the founder of college fishing , which is surging in popularity these days .
Lutz ’ s Big Idea came to him in 1968 , during the long drive home from an Alabama bass tournament . It was football season , and Lutz reflected on the frenzy that surrounded the upcoming showdown between the University of Alabama and Auburn University . It was the same thing in Lutz ’ s Big Ten , where games between such schools as Michigan and Ohio State , Indiana University and Purdue stirred up the same sort of excitement .
Lutz began to wonder , what if the Big Ten schools fostered the same sort of friendly rivalries through bass tournaments ? What if college students who grew up fishing and hunting had an organized and positive outlet to showcase their skills ? What if , indeed ? Though a stint in the Air Force during the Vietnam era , an education at Indiana State University and a few years
COLIN
MOORE
The First bass Professor
teaching grade school and junior high intervened , the idea incubated in Lutz ’ s mind . He started a bass fishing club in the Illinois grade school where he taught and , in the meantime , developed a plan to introduce bass fishing as a Big Ten sport .
In 1986 , Lutz , having decided that Indiana University was more amenable to his ideas , convinced a dean there that bass fishing as a sport was a big
deal and getting bigger . He was hired to teach an hourlong class on bass fishing as a non-credit physical education course . A few semesters later , the Lutz class became a physical education elective that earned one credit .
Meanwhile , Lutz took the next logical step : The adjunct professor started the Indiana University Bass Fishing Club .
“ Only eight kids showed up for the first meeting , but they were enthusiastic ,” recalls the 71-year-old Lutz . “ When we held our first tournament on a local lake there at Bloomington , I would take one kid out in my Ranger for 30 minutes while the other seven would fish from the bank . Then I would swap anglers until everybody had his 30 minutes in the boat . That was in the summer of 1987 . By 1990 we had more than 50 kids , and the club included alumni , staff members , faculty and people in the community .”
The club didn ’ t go unnoticed outside the Indiana campus . At Purdue University in West Lafayette , Ind ., an aspiring angler named Shad Schenck and some of his buddies started their own club . In April 1992 , “ The Old Minnow Bucket ” tournament pitted IU and Purdue against each other on Lake Monroe in the first intercollegiate bass tournament . The Boilermakers won .
Lutz ’ s original idea of promoting bass fishing at the college level grew exponentially , aided by the support and
Stephen Lutz ( front row , second from right ) almost single-handedly jump-started college bass fishing when he developed IU ’ s club back in the late ' 80s .
PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION / PHOTO HOEMANN
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FLWFISHING . COM I February-MarCH 2017