ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 13, 1997 TAG: 9701140002
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
RAY SCOTT is on the road again.
The 63-year-old founder and president of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, which claims more than a half-million members around the world, has scheduled a 40-city, one-man show beginning Jan. 17, called ``Ray Scott - Live on Tour.''
Scott said the presentation will tell of the adventures and misadventures of creating B.A.S.S. and the early days of tournament fishing that helped mold today's billion-dollar bass-fishing industry.
It will be full of fishing tips, too, he said during a telephone interview from his office/home near Montgomery, Ala.
``It is not just the history of B.A.S.S., which has been told and retold down to the color of the underwear I was wearing when I got the idea,'' Scott said. ``I am going to teach these guys something about fishing they don't know.''
While Scott is revered more as an organizer than angler, he said he has weighed enough fish - ``even more than a salmon merchant'' - and been around enough pros to learn a thing or two.
``I tell the pros that I know more than they do, because I know what they know,'' he said.
Some 25 years ago, Scott came to Roanoke with the self-appointed goal to ``spread the gospel of bass fishing from coast to coast.''
Traveling in a Bluebird bus, Scott, who admitted to having ``bass on the brain,'' held a program in a local movie theater. His budding Bass Anglers Sportsman Society was beginning to take shape, receiving a major boost from a feature in the October 1969 issue of Sports Illustrated.
``When it comes to black bass, Ray Scott of Montgomery, Ala., has a silver tongue and a golden touch,'' wrote Robert H. Boyle. ``He comes on like a revival preacher painting the glories of paradise gained.''
Scott was big on promoting clean water at the Roanoke stop. Often his anti-pollution act included flinging a streaming roll of toilet paper across the audience.
But what many came to hear were fishing tips from Scott's fellow travelers, who included John Powell, a shallow-water worming expert with a round, Howdy Doody face, and Bill Dance and Roland Martin, who required no introduction.
In those days, when you saw Scott and his disciples you were viewing the cutting edge of modern bass fishing. Things like big-money tournaments, Texas-rigged plastic worms, trolling motors mounted on the bow rather than the stern and boat live wells to hold your catch were brand new or yet to be developed.
When Scott tells the story of his life, he is telling the story of how modern bass fishing was born.
``I'll never forget the night John Powell peeped through the curtains just before show time, then turned around and told me there were only 15 people in the audience,'' Scott said. At another stop, 2,500 showed up, he said.
The new tour, which starts in Indianapolis and ends March 31 in Phoenix, is expected to be a big draw, even with tickets going for $18 to $50.
One stop it won't make is Roanoke, for which Scott apologizes. For the most part, the show is casting to bigger markets; either that, or dates weren't available at local venues. The nearest stops will be Richmond, Feb.4, at Carpenter Center Theatre, and Greensboro, N.C., Feb.5, at War Memorial Auditorium.
Scott said, ``This is something I've always wanted to do, to share with audiences the knowledge I've gained chunkin' and winding with the fishing greats and to tell the behind-the-scenes story of just how B.A.S.S. was created.''
His story of multimillion-dollar success remains fascinating, but its telling has mellowed through the years.
``Looking back, I don't know how I did it,'' he said. ``It had to be divine intervention. You can't lay it on smarts. You can't lay it on luck.''
A big help is the fact that Scott has some Barnum and Bailey blood in his veins. He is a master salesman and accomplished showman. Who else could keep 20,000 people packed into a coliseum while fish weighing goes on for the length of two basketball games? That happens at every Bass Masters Classic.
``Ray could sell the pope a double bed,'' writer C. Boyd Pfeiffer said in a Newsweek magazine article.
A questions that must be answered is: Who is going to keep it all together when Scott is gone?
``I don't think anything will happen of any great trauma when I am gone,'' Scott said. ``There will be somebody else. It won't be as good as I can do it - I have 30 years of experience - but it will be different.''
What's more, ``I don't plan to go anywhere,'' Scott said.
Although Scott has gained some girth in recent years, two weeks ago a doctor told him his vital signs mimicked those of a high school football player.
In reality, the day-to-day operation of B.A.S.S. already has been relinquished by Scott. In 1986, he sold the organization he spawned, including Bassmaster magazine and Southern Outdoors, ``for more money than I ever could spend.''
But Scott's name remains on promotional material, and he is the host of a dozen televised B.A.S.S. tournaments annually. For the average bass fisherman, he remains Mr. Bass. A book in the makings has the working title, ``Bass Boss.''
B.A.S.S. has escaped major competition, until now. The new Wal-Mart FLW fishing tournament tour is touting a $3.1 million purse, far beyond what B.A.S.S. is offering.
``I don't consider it competition,'' Scott said. ``It is not going to hurt us.''
The FLW in the name of the new circuit stands for Forest L. Wood, the founder of Ranger bass boats and a personal friend of Scott.
Has it strained their friendship?
``Not the first blip,'' Scott said.
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Ray Scott, a man with ``bass on the brain.'' colorby CNB