Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 16, 1994                   TAG: 9502100010
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ED HARDIN LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

KERCHAL'S DREAM ENDED NOT FAR FROM WHERE IT BEGAN

The last time Bryan Kerchal was in Greensboro, N.C., he was carried out on the shoulders of an entire industry, the champion of the BASS Masters Classic and the heir to a business that generates $69 billion a year.

When he returned to Greensboro on Tuesday, Kerchal left on an airplane that never reached its destination. His dream ended not far from where it began five months before.

Kerchal, 23, died in a plane crash near Raleigh on Tuesday night after visiting friends and associates at Greensboro-based Wrangler, a company that sponsored the young angler even before he burst onto the fishing scene by winning the Classic in July. Wrangler was one of many companies prepared to make Kerchal a very rich young man in the coming year.

``I have no idea what all happens between now and the next time I come to Greensboro,'' Kerchal said in a phone call recently. ``We'll go fishing.''

Kerchal, a line cook from Newtown, Conn., won the industry's most prestigious title at High Rock Lake after qualifying as an amateur, the first time in the 24-year history of the tournament an amateur had won. The $50,000 winner's purse was nothing compared to what awaited Kerchal in the spring.

``He had so much lined up,'' said Hank Millard, a friend and tackle supplier from Danbury, Conn. ``He had contracts and speaking tours and all that. He had sponsorships with several companies. He would have been busy.''

Pradco, a lure design company from Fort Smith, Ark., had a line of Kerchal lures ready to market.

``He was a full-fledged member of our pro staff,'' said Greensboro native Lisa Hughes, Pradco's public relations director. ``We were working on some Kerchal colors for our lures and had incorporated him into magazine ads that we've had to pull. We had a lot of things in the works.''

Ranger Boats, which help sponsor the entire Bass Anglers Sportsman Society tour, signed Kerchal.

He would never have to buy another boat. Countless smaller companies were prepared to use his name and image to market products in the coming years.

David Fritts of Lexington, N.C., won the 1993 BASS Masters Classic and spent most of the following year touring the country, speaking to industry representatives, designing lures and appearing at tackle shows and autograph sessions. Kerchal often called Fritts for advice.

``I really don't know what to expect,'' Kerchal said the day of his victory in Greensboro. ``I'm just going to take it one day at a time. I'm still so unfamiliar with everything that goes along with this. I don't know what it all means.''

The industry, however, knew exactly what Kerchal meant. He was young, genuine and marketable. His was a face that could launch a thousand Ranger bass boats - and sell thousands of Kerchal lures, too.

But he was more, said Ray Scott, the founder of BASS and the BASS Masters Classic. Kerchal was unlike other sports figures. He was humbled by his victory and genuinely inspired by his good fortune. He planned to go home to Connecticut, quit his job as a cook and get married.

His fiancee was waiting at the airport in Danbury, Conn., on Tuesday night, Millard said. The family was en route to North Carolina late Wednesday.

``His loss hurts me more than any pain I've ever felt,'' Scott said. ``He always wore a smile with a gentle shyness.''

Kerchal qualified for the Classic the past two years by winning his local bass federation club tournament, then a national qualifying tournament before the season-ending Classic. A self-taught angler, Kerchal finished last at the 1993 BASS Masters Classic near Birmingham, Ala.

``I had no idea what I was doing,'' he said.

A year later, he came to High Rock Lake and stunned the select field of professionals, many of whom he considered his heroes. In three days, Kerchal beat 40 professional fishermen, winning the tournament before a sold-out weigh-in crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum.

``It's like a dream,'' he said.

Keywords:
FATALITY