a new world record … not really
In the spring of 1966 , Alvin Monroe Samples Jr . was 40 years old and living in Cumming , Georgia , with his wife and five kids . To call their circumstances “ modest ” would be an understatement . They lived in a three-room shack without running water . Junior ’ s wife had a job , but Junior mostly raced cars , did a little carpentry work and fished nearby Lake Lanier .
One day at the racetrack , Junior ’ s brother pulled up in his pickup and told Junior to look in the bed of the truck . There , he found the head of a big fish . It was a grouper , but it was dried up and might have passed for a giant largemouth if you didn ’ t look too closely . Junior opened its mouth and discovered it would fit on his head , so he wore it as a hat for a little while .
When someone asked about his new headgear , Junior concocted a story . He said it was a bass he caught from Lake Lanier and that it had weighed 22 pounds , 9 ounces .
ILLUSTRATION BY JOE MAHLER
Well , in Georgia , anyone who fishes for bass knows that the world record was caught in the Peach State and that it weighed 22-4 . Junior ’ s “ bass ” was potentially a new world record .
The story spread , eventually reaching the Georgia Game and Fish Commission . They sent a staffer out to interview Junior , who quickly admitted it was all just a joke … but the story was funny , so the Game and Fish rep recorded it anyway .
Junior ’ s tale was that he caught the bass while drunk , that he was fishing with a “ little white-bellied spring lizard ” and used a “ Zebby-co 33 ” to subdue the giant . Because of his claimed inebriation , he couldn ’ t remember the marina he stopped at to weigh the fish , but he clearly recalled the weight – 22-9 .
The Game and Fish staffer took the recording to an Atlanta radio station , and they liked the tape so much they put it into their rotation . It got a lot of air play and was a local favorite . Eventually , it reached Chart Records , was released as a single titled “ The World ’ s Biggest Whopper ,” and even cracked the Country Music Top 50 for a time in 1967 .
What might be even funnier is that after the recording hit the Atlanta airwaves , virtually every marina owner on Lake Lanier came forward to claim that Junior had weighed the giant bass at their establishment . They all had witnesses , too .
“ hee haw ” came a-calling
About the time Junior ’ s “ Whopper ” was making the rounds , CBS television was looking for ways to compete with NBC ’ s comedy juggernaut “ Laugh-In .” And while “ Laugh-In ” targeted and parodied the hip counterculture of the time , CBS was still riding the rural coattails of “ The Andy Griffith Show .” “ Hee Haw ” would be the countrified version of “ Laugh-In ,” and Junior Samples would become a star .
Just how big a star Junior would become is a little hard to fathom today . Before cable television and the internet , network television was the bully-est pulpit imaginable . Just being on the small screen each week made people household names , and if you were on a successful show – like “ M * A * S * H ,” or “ Charlie ’ s Angels ,” or even “ Hee Haw ” – you were likely known by more people than any of today ’ s television performers , movie actors or musical performers . Really .
Don ’ t believe it ? In its earliest seasons – when Junior was a regular – “ Hee Haw ” scored Nielsen ratings over 21 . That means more than 21 percent of American households watched the show that week . In comparison , the top-rated television program of 2022 – “ The Bachelor ” – scored just 1.1 . Audiences today are much more diluted than they were in the 1960s , ’ 70s , and ’ 80s .
And that ’ s exactly when Junior was a regular on weekly television . He was a featured player on “ Hee Haw ” for 14 years .
riding the wave to stardom
Fame brought Junior fortune , as well . The sixth-grade dropout bought his family a nice brick home ( with indoor plumbing ), but his only extravagances were a new bass boat , a Lincoln Continental with which to pull it and a big color TV so he could watch himself every Sunday night at 7 o ’ clock .
Since filming 26 episodes of the show only took a few weeks each year , Junior was free to fish most of the time … and he did . He even competed on some of the major tournament circuits of the day . And though he rarely finished in the money , he was often covered and photographed by the press because he was the biggest star there .
Junior was a big star in another , unfortunate way . Though he stood just 5-foot-6 , he weighed well over 300 pounds . He beat a drinking problem , but he never conquered his appetite for food . It led to heart problems in the 1970s and hospitalizations in the ’ 80s . On November 13 , 1983 , he died of a heart attack at his home . He was just 57 years old .
Junior is interred at Sawnee View Gardens in Cumming . He was buried in his favorite overalls , and his headstone features a bass boat and fishing scene . A pond on the cemetery property is just a long cast from his grave .
That big country boy with a knack for telling tall tales was the biggest star that bass fishing has ever produced . A joke about catching a world record largemouth propelled him to prime-time television and a very unlikely notoriety .
FEBRUARY-MARCH 2023 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 27