This thing with the “win streak” (http://www.bassparade.com/k-short-qa-on-winning-streak) got me to wondering the other day. Just how many and who has won three or more B.A.S.S. events in consecutive years? That’s a pretty lofty feat, I would think, as it’s hard enough to win one at the Open or Elite level, but to string several of them together across consecutive years, well, that’s a whole different bag of Zoom lizards. I sat down at the trusty innerwebz and here’s what I came up with. Keep in mind that I don’t have a vault of B.A.S.S. records to thumb through; this is what I came up with by searching the Bassmaster.com website. I’m sure I might have missed some of the “old timers” that fished back in tha’ day, but I tried to search on as many names as I could recall. If you come up with additions to what I’ve found, feel free to add them to the comments after the story.
Only angler in the history of B.A.S.S. who has won an event in five consecutive years would be, you guessed it, VD. His streak runs from 2007 – 2011. Will it end this year? Probably not likely.
Denny Brauer, Roland Martin, and Peter T are the only anglers to win in four consecutive years. Denny did it in 1984 – 1987, Roland in 1970 – 1973, and Petey in 2005 – 2008.
Think 2010 was a magical year for Skeet? Check this out, Denny won FOUR events in 1998. That’s right, not one, not two, or three, but FOUR events in one season. THAT’S magic.
Denny, Rick Clunn, and Larry Nixon are the only anglers I could find who have won three or more derbies in consecutive years multiple times. Denny has two streaks, one from 1984 – 1987 and again from 2002 – 2004. Clunn has two spans with one from 1983 – 1985 and the other from 1990 – 1992. Larry Nixon is the only angler with three separate runs with the first from 1978 – 1980, the second from 1986 – 1988, and the final from 1990 – 1992.
In the Elite Series, only two anglers have won an Elite event in three or more consecutive years; Mike McClelland and VD. McStick has three wins in 2006 – 2008 while VD has four Elite wins from 2007 – 2010.
For the last stat, three (or more) wins in consecutive years, you can include all those mentioned above, plus Tommy Biffle in 2009 – 2011, Bill Dance in 1968 – 1970, Edwin Evers in 2003 – 2005, Gary Klein in 1988 – 1990, and K-Pink in 2009 – 2011.
When you break it down on paper, it’s some pretty strong stuff. I’m honestly pretty humbled to be at the bottom of that list.
K-Pink – Strong
About Kevin Short
