SEEN & HEARD
“I’m staying with Chris and Cory Johnston, my fellow Canadians, and Brandon McMillan, a
wannabe Canadian. It’s great. We’re gonna go spend winter with him in Florida, and he can
come up to escape the heat in summer.” – Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson at the day two weigh-in.
PARKER A CROWD FAVORITE
For a guy who never fished an FlW event, hank
parker is nevertheless popular with the FlW crowd. as a
frequent guest speaker and master of ceremonies at the
Forrest Wood cup, the north carolina native always
lends a touch of homespun class to the event with his
observations on tournament fishing in general and pro-
moting fishing among youth in particular. Judging from
the lines of fans waiting to get his autograph at the FlW
expo, and the applause he received when addressing
the packed audience at weigh-ins, parker was again a
hit at the 2016 Forrest Wood cup.
incidentally, parker’s given name is charles bruce
parker. early in his youth, parker was a terror on a
bicycle, and his father took to calling him “handlebar
hank” after a television cartoon character that parker
enjoyed watching. the name stuck, though it was
shortened to “hank.”
years later, parker became a terror of a different sort
in a ranger, much to the dismay of his competitors.
BRAUER PURSUES ELUSIVE GOAL
A CHARITY CHAMPION
RECOGNIZED
Nobody has ever won all of the Big Four titles of tournament fishing: the
Forrest Wood Cup, FLW Angler of the Year, the Bassmaster Classic and
B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year. Texas pro Denny Brauer has won three of the
four titles, including the Bassmaster Classic, B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year and
FLW Angler of the Year. The one major prize that has eluded him so far is
the Forrest Wood Cup championship.
Brauer qualified for this year’s Cup through the 2015 Costa FLW Series
Championship and hoped to make a run at the title. It wasn’t to be, howev-
er, as he finished 38th in the standings. Turns out he isn’t the only Walmart
FLW Tour pro who has a crack at achieving tournament fishing’s last great
milestone. North Carolina veteran David Fritts also has won three of the
four titles, including the Bassmaster Classic in 1993 and B.A.S.S. Angler of
the Year in 1994. Where he differs from Brauer is that he has won the
Forrest Wood Cup (1997), but has never captured the FLW AOY title.
86
shirley crain, the only female tour
pro these days, received special recog-
nition at the cup for her contributions
to the children’s miracle network
(cmn) and the arkansas children’s
hospital.
as the honorary chairman of the
2016 Will Fish for kids-bill kerr
memorial charity tournament, the
arkansas pro helped raise $204,000 for
the cmn and the hospital. the charity
tournament takes place each year after
the FlW tour event on beaver lake,
and typically several pros participate as
members of sponsor teams.
FLWFISHING.COM I OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2016