{"id":2831,"date":"2016-01-11T14:14:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-11T14:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/?page_id=2831"},"modified":"2025-05-14T08:13:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T13:13:06","slug":"about-bass","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/about-bass\/","title":{"rendered":"About B.A.S.S."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<link rel=\"stylesheet\" type=\"text\/css\" href=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/bassmaster_web\/about_us\/css\/about-min.css\"><\/link>\n\n<header class=\"entry-header\">\n    <h1 class=\"entry-title\">About B.A.S.S.<\/h1>\n        <\/header><!-- .entry-header -->\n\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n\n    <header class=\"bass-component__section-title\">\n        <h2 class=\"bass-component__heading h3\">Leadership<\/h2>\n    <\/header>\n    <div class=\"bios-container\">\n        <div>\n                <div>\n                    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/about-bass\/chase-anderson\/\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/bassmaster_web\/about_us\/images-admin\/chase_anderson.jpg');\">\n                        <div>\n                            <h5>Chase Anderson<\/h5>\n                            <p>Chief Executive Officer<\/p>\n                            <p class=\"small\">C.E.O.<\/p>\n                        <\/div>\n                    <\/a>\n                <\/div>\n                <div>\n                    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/about-bass\/phillip-johnson\/\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/bassmaster_web\/about_us\/images-admin\/phillip_johnson.jpg');\">\n                        <div>\n                            <h5>Phillip Johnson<\/h5>\n                            <p>Chief Operating Officer<\/p>\n                            <p class=\"small\">C.O.O.<\/p>\n                        <\/div>\n                    <\/a>\n                <\/div>\n                <div>\n                    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/about-bass\/nick-grabowski\/\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/bassmaster_web\/about_us\/images-admin\/nick_grabowski.jpg');\">\n                        <div>\n                            <h5>Nick Grabowski<\/h5>\n                            <p>Chief Financial Officer<\/p>\n                            <p class=\"small\">C.F.O.<\/p>\n                        <\/div>\n                    <\/a>\n                <\/div>\n                <div>\n                    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/about-bass\/eric-lopez\/\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/bassmaster_web\/about_us\/images-admin\/eric_lopez.jpg');\">\n                        <div>\n                            <h5>Eric Lopez<\/h5>\n                            <p>Director of Event Operations<\/p>\n                            <p class=\"small\">Dir. Event Ops.<\/p>\n                        <\/div>\n                    <\/a>\n                <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"hack-cta\">\n        <h3>\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/about-bass\/b-a-s-s-history-timeline\/\" target=\"_self\">View the B.A.S.S. timeline<\/a>\n        <\/h3>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"hack-cta\">\n        <h3>\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/50th-anniversary-of-b-a-s-s\/news\/b-a-s-s-historical-timeline\/\" target=\"_self\">Read more about the history of B.A.S.S.<\/a>\n        <\/h3>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"row\">\n        <div class=\"col-md-3 col-sm--2 col-12\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/bassmaster_web\/about_us\/svgs\/just_bass.svg\" alt=\"B.A.S.S. fish\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"col-md-9 col-sm--10 col-12\">\n            <header class=\"bass-component__section-title\" style=\"margin-top: 4rem;\">\n                <h2 class=\"bass-component__heading h3\">Our Mission<\/h2>\n            <\/header>\n            <p class=\"bass-component__paragraph\">Serving a growing community of anglers by fueling a passion for fishing through education, inspiration and conservation, and helping to define the culture and the lifestyle surrounding the sport.<\/p>\n            <header class=\"bass-component__section-title\" style=\"margin-top: 4rem;\">\n                <h2 class=\"bass-component__heading h3\">Organization Overview<\/h2>\n            <\/header>\n            <p class=\"bass-component__paragraph\">No one could have predicted that the 106 fishermen competing in Ray Scott&#8217;s first tournament in 1967 would one day turn into a membership organization more than half a million strong.<\/p\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <p class=\"bass-component__paragraph mt-3\">It would have been just as impossible to predict that the B.A.S.S. newsletter, first distributed in 1968, would evolve into <i>Bassmaster<\/i> Magazine, the bible of today&#8217;s bass fisherman \u2014 but it happened. B.A.S.S., born and raised in Montgomery, Ala., was founded by Ray Scott with simple goals in mind: to create a credible and honorable tournament trail, to improve our environment by uniting and amplifying the voices of anglers and to secure a future for our youth. In the past four decades B.A.S.S. has met all these goals and more. It would take volumes to list the accomplishments of B.A.S.S. over the years, but two may be most significant. In 1972, B.A.S.S. initiated a &#8220;Don&#8217;t Kill Your Catch&#8221; program that evolved into the modern &#8220;catch-and-release&#8221; ethic now practiced by nearly all bass anglers.<\/p>\n    <p class=\"bass-component__paragraph\">In 1984, B.A.S.S. lobbied Congress in support of the Wallop-Breaux amendment to the Sport Fish Restoration Act, which generates more than $600 million annually for state fisheries. B.A.S.S., the focal point of what has grown into a multibillion-dollar fishing industry, has created a publishing giant with <i>Bassmaster <\/i>Magazine and&nbsp;<i>B.A.S.S. Times<\/i>. B.A.S.S. produces <i>The Bassmasters<\/i>&nbsp;television program which airs on ESPN2, the Bassmaster Tournament Trail and the Bassmaster Classic, recognized around the globe as fishing&#8217;s world championship. The first Classic, held on Lake Mead near Las Vegas, Nev., awarded a winner-take-all paycheck of $10,000 and was witnessed by a straggling handful of spectators.<\/p>\n    <p class=\"bass-component__paragraph\">Today, tens of thousands of people cram into coliseums to watch the daily weigh-ins, and $1,000,000 is awarded to the anglers \u2014 $300,000 of which goes to the champion. Since 1968, B.A.S.S. has been active in local, state and national conservation issues.<\/p>\n    <p class=\"bass-component__paragraph\">Many of our original goals were directed toward protection of our natural resources. All of these goals were established prior to the time the Clean Water, Clean Air and Endangered Species acts were passed by Congress and before most of America&#8217;s fisheries management scientists had even acknowledged that black bass could be overharvested or stockpiled by practicing catch-and-release strategies.<\/p>\n    <p class=\"bass-component__paragraph\">Since 1968, groups of bass fishermen throughout the United States and the world have joined to create grass roots B.A.S.S. clubs with one common goal \u2014 to learn how to become better bass fishermen. This is just one of the many benefits the B.A.S.S. Nation offers its more than 20,000 members.<\/p>\n    <p class=\"bass-component__paragraph\">Realizing that a collection of chapters could accomplish more and have a stronger voice on issues that affect the future and preservation of bass fishing, B.A.S.S. decided to unite them. In 1972, B.A.S.S. installed 19 state federations and so began our B.A.S.S. Nation program. There are currently B.A.S.S. Nation clubs in 46 of the United States plus organizations in Canada, Mexico, Italy, Japan, South Africa and Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n    <p class=\"bass-component__paragraph\">Contact B.A.S.S. today to let us know if you are interested in volunteering to support the Bassmaster Tournament Trail, Youth events or Conservation initiatives in your area.<br \/> 877-BASS USA | <a href=\"mailto:bassmaster@emailcustomerservice.com\">bassmaster@emailcustomerservice.com<\/a><\/p>\n    <div class=\"my-5\"><\/div>\n<\/div><!-- .entry-content -->\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About B.A.S.S. Leadership Chase Anderson Chief Executive Officer C.E.O. Phillip Johnson Chief Operating Officer C.O.O. Nick Grabowski Chief Financial Officer C.F.O. Eric Lopez Director of Event Operations Dir. Event Ops&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2832,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[]},"bassmaster_plugin_short_title":"","bassmaster_dfp":{"s1":"","s2":"","s3":"","keyword":""},"bassmaster_page_use_wide_template":true,"bassmaster_page_hide_title":true,"bassmaster_ad_refresh_interval_bool":false,"bassmaster_ad_refresh_interval_length":0,"bassmaster_membership_page":false,"ad_layers_open_graph_description":"","ad_layers_open_graph_image":0,"ad_layers_open_graph_title":"","footnotes":""},"sponsors":[],"people":[],"tournaments":[],"tournament-series":[],"byline":[],"class_list":["post-2831","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>About B.A.S.S. - Bassmaster<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/about-bass\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About B.A.S.S. - Bassmaster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"About B.A.S.S. 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