BASS PRO
4/30/2007 11:16:10 AM by Sandy Lindsey
Johnny Morris attributes his colorful childhood memories and lifelong love of the water to the inevitable success of Bass Pro Shops. But it was a near-death experience that has made him savor every moment.
Johnny Morris’ life story might read like a fairytale for avid fishermen, but it was the result of clever planning with a healthy dose of good old-fashioned hard work and the maxim “Do what you love and the success will follow.”
Who would have thought that simple fishing outings with his father and uncle would one day lead to a fishing and outdoor sports empire? That love of bass fishing fostered in a young Morris led him to, when he grew up, convince his father into backing him with $10,000 in inventory and a sales space in a corner of his father’s Brown Derby liquor store. The idea was to offer quality lures and bait to the fishermen on their way to the lake who stopped in for beer and ice.
In 1974, Morris followed up this success with the first Bass Pro Shops catalog. His foresight, sharp business savvy, and philanthropy have garnered him many awards including the Teddy Roosevelt Conservationist Award, the Sport Fishing Institute’s “1992 Fisherman of the Year,” and the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies President’s Award. He is an inducted member in the IGFA Hall of Fame and trustee emeritus of the International Game Fish Association.
All of this greatness almost came to an abrupt end during a bass tournament on Beaver Lake in Arkansas. The hair-raising episode is immortalized in the Bass Book by Ray Scott. “Johnny was within a hair’s breath of drowning after a sudden storm swamped his boat in rough seas,” recalls Scott. After Morris and his partner, Bob Craddock of Kentucky, capsized, they were dumped into bone-chilling, 47-degree waters with the threat of hypothermia looming over them. Luckily, Morris was able to latch on to a floating gas can, using it to try riding out the six-foot high waves. “My hands were so weak that they felt like I’d gone to sleep on them,’ recalls Morris. “I remember taking a coin out of my pocket. I was going to scratch a message to my parents — ‘Mom and Dad: I love you’ — but couldn’t scratch the paint on that Mercury gas can.
“We both prayed out loud,” adds Morris. “I’d just about given up any hope when all of a sudden Craddock started laughing, and I thought he’d lost it. Then, this big hand reached down and grabbed me. It was a miracle.”
Billy Westmorland, the rescuer, recalls, “My boat was rigged with two bilge pumps. If it hadn’t been for that, we’d have been in big trouble, too. Craddock was locked around Morris’ neck, and we had to pull him loose, then pry Morris’ hands from the gas can. I was scared to death.”
In the ensuing years, Bass Pro Shops, Outdoor World and Morris’ other ventures met with great success and Morris has always tried to get back to the sport. Perhaps his most notable generosity was in donating the land for the current site of the International Gamefish Hall of Fame and Museum in Dania, Florida. “Conservation is the future of fishing and it is of vital importance that we invest in the future — in conservation,” says Morris. “It doesn’t matter what new products our vendors create, or what great marketing campaigns they develop. Nor does it matter how many catalogs we mail or new stores we build. If fishermen, our customers, can’t catch fish and enjoy exciting success in public waters, then our sport and our industry are doomed.”