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Orlando,
Fla – BASS went through a rigorous qualification process to establish a full field of 110 Elite Series anglers, but the Harris Chain standings only made it as far as 109. Who was missing?
A quick examination of those standings reveals that the missing angler was tour veteran Lee Bailey Jr. Reached at home in Alabama on the first day of practice for Toho, he explained the reason for his absence:
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Bailey
Jr. was not at the Harris Chain
event, the first event of the 2008
Bassmaster Elite Series season, due
to a financial situation.
His situation was made even worse by the fact that he came down with a nasty case of the flu last week and spent four days in the hospital.
How did he get in this predicament in the first place?
"I lost my major sponsor late last fall. I had a great sponsor but they changed their president and their marketing company late in the season and they made the decision not to sponsor me," he said. |
Unable to secure a new sponsor as the primary financier for his 2008 campaign, Bailey made the decision to refinance his house to pay his entry fees. "But sometimes things don't work out," he said. "I was hoping it would all come together in time, but sometimes things don't. Everything has been approved, but right now the government is holding up the paperwork."
He hopes that everything will be solidified in time for him to fish Toho, but either way he intends to persevere and fish whatever tournaments remain once his refinancing goes through.
"It's hard enough to compete at this level without missing any tournaments, but I just love this schedule and I'm confident that I can do well and possibly even pull off a Classic berth if I only miss the Harris Chain."
He thanked his remaining sponsors, in particular Legend Boats and Mercury Outboards, for coming through on short notice. He didn't pick up his boat until after the Classic, and even that late delivery would not have been possible had those two companies not made Herculean efforts to get it built and rigged quickly.
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