In today’s Friday Finale historical photo, a name you might recognize from the past who is still around and active today – Mr. Homer Humphreys.
Homer fished 254 events with Bassmaster starting in 1980 and competed regularly as recently as 2019. He had 2 wins during that time frame, both Bassmaster Open events in 2001 and 2002. He also qualified for two Bassmaster Classics, and had total winnings of over $234,000.
According to a 1997 story in The Times, he said, “The first year I started, I cleared about $70,000 just fishing part-time. At one time I had as many as nine boats in my yard that I won.
“We’d (Larry Nixon, Rick Clunn) sit on a tailgate somewhere and talk about the future of bass fishing and wonder if it would go anywhere. Some of us had enough guts to quit their jobs before others did.”
Homer originally worked as a meat cutter at A&P before becoming a manager at Safeway. He worked at Safeway for 11 years before making the leap into professional bass fishing. He also ran several businesses on the side including lure manufacturing, wholesale, and guiding.
During the heydays of his career, he estimated that he spent more than 200 days on the road between tournaments and sponsor commitments.
He still guides and is active on social media. A simple search will pull up his Facebook page where he regularly posts updates and pictures from his guide trips.
