Our readers can probably name the first woman to compete in a Bassmaster Invitational event against a field of men. That was Vojai Reed. But can you name the second woman to ever do so? The answer and photo is in today’s Throwback Thursday historical photo.
It actually happened the following week, at an event on Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas. The lone woman among 200 male contestants in that Bassmasters BP Top 100 tournament was Connie Jenkins, a 36-year-old letter carrier from Knob Noster, Mo. Her first day partner was none other than Classic champ, Paul Elias, and both are featured in this historical photo, heading to the weigh-in scales.
And this wasn’t just local coverage. This was a big deal being reported in newspapers across the country, as witnessed by the two page story in the Philadelphia Inquirer we are citing today. The opening lines read, “Connie Jenkins held it all day long. Her partner, Paul Elias, tinkled over the side one time. Jenkins turned her head. And there you have it. History.”
The story goes into some detail about how this all came about and quotes a variety of now household names in the sport’s history. Below are a wide variety of them from the article:
> “A lot of these guys scraped, done without, to go on the bass tour. These women, with all the publicity, are going to take sponsor money away that some of these guys had an opportunity to get.” – Jerry Rhyne
Interestingly, Jerry was probably correct, initially, as the story later mentions, “The day after she was announced as a last-minute entry to this tournament, Jenkins was signed by 10 sponsors. She received a wad of money and new gear. ‘It was more lucrative than I expected.'”
> “This is the last bastion of male supremacy – the bass boat. We were restricted to the shore and bingo games.” Sugar Ferris
> “They have men’s tennis. Men’s golf. In my opinion, they need men’s fishing. It’s a sexist, segregated thing. Women would have more fun and be better off if they fished by themselves. Really, men have more stamina. It’s a known fact.” – Wallace Jenkins, Connie’s husband
> “A woman would have to have scales and fins before my husband would look at her.” – Phyllis Bacon, Basil Bacon’s wife
> “The differences are so great, it’s almost laughable. Our maximum prize is a boat, motor and trailer, which they say is worth $20,000. It’s actually worth about $15,000. For the men, their maximum prize in some tournaments is as high as $100,000.” – Linda England
> “Some of the (wives) didn’t come out of their rooms in Missouri. It was too much of a trauma. It was the end of an era. They couldn’t deal with it.” – Vojai Reed
> “This is not a victory,” said Sugar Ferris of Bass’n Gal. She would have liked to see men admit women willingly, rather than being forced to. And she dismisses the whole episode as “government interfering with free enterprise.”
I think the arguments for women having their own league are strong but fishing isn’t like baseball, football, wrestling, etc. so if they want to compete at the highest level they ought to have the opportunity in my not very humble, super arrogant opinion. On the other hand, if you’re going to have women only tournaments then there needs to be men only tournaments too. On the other other hand, to be honest, I don’t like what tournaments have become in the 21st century anyway so I really shouldn’t care.