The Legacy of Ray Scott
IT WAS THE best of times. It was the worst of times. For bass anglers, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was busy like beavers building dams across the South, creating huge, man-made reservoirs where black bass would soon thrive.
For others, it was a time of constant struggle. “Segregation Now. Segregation Tomorrow. Segregation Forever.” As a newly arrived outsider, the words of Alabama’s Governor George Wallace echoed in my mind. Here I was searching for Mt. Meigs Road, an avenue running east-west into downtown Montgomery and off Dexter Avenue, where Dr. Martin Luther King had preached his message leading to his historic “I Have A Dream” speech.
It was a time of dreamers. A former Montgomery insurance salesman, Ray W. Scott Jr., was among them. He dreamed of bass fishing as a business. Of making his passion for bass fishing as a tournament competition rival baseball as the favorite American pastime. Ray’s newly spawned Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) was achieving a toehold and the support of some 2,000 members.
My dream was also about to become real, but as the new editor of Ray’s Magazine. I’d arrived with heart-stopping emotion. If you imagine a bad sign or omen forecasts the future, understand this: The office for Ray Scott’s upstart headquarters for B.A.S.S. was housed directly across the street from the Montgomery Monument Company.
