Clunn vs. Martin in the Final GAD Vote

Lewisville, Texas – It’s only fitting that ESPN’s Greatest Angler Debate presented by John Deere comes down to one of professional bass fishing’s oldest questions: Which is the greater accomplishment, winning the CITGO Bassmaster Angler of the Year title or winning the CITGO Bassmaster Classic?

Beginning June 4 on Bassmaster.com (keyword “Vote”) bass fishing fans worldwide will have a chance to settle that argument once and for all as they begin casting votes for the two anglers determined through seven months of rigorous panel review and fan voting to be the best ever: nine-time Angler of the Year Roland Martin and four-time Classic champ Rick Clunn. There should be little doubt that these two deserve the final places in the contest.

Martin, 65, of Naples, Fla., was one of the sport’s first “scientific” anglers, the man who developed pattern fishing and a legendary competitor. Clunn, 58, of Ava. Mo., is the Zen master who emphasizes attunement with the natural world and psychological preparation over technical wizardry.

Between them, they’ve earned virtually every accolade available to a professional angler, and they provide an enduring link between the early days of tournament bass fishing and the present. One of them will take home the title of Greatest Angler at the Bassmaster Classic in Pittsburgh, July 29-31.

The Greatest Angler Debate presented by John Deere started with a list of 35 top anglers from the world of competitive bass fishing. That list was pared down to the sport’s 10 best in January. Fan voting began in January and ended in March. The process ranked the pros third through tenth. The two finalists face-off in a second round of voting that begins June 4 and continues through July 17.

The showdown between Rick Clunn and Roland Martin can hardly come as a surprise to bass fishing fans that learned of the results during Wednesday’s opening day weigh-in of the Bassmaster Elite 50 event near Dallas. Both have been the cream of the competitive fishing crop for so long that it was nearly a foregone conclusion that the fans would pit them against each other. Their credentials are undeniable.

And while much of the debate between the two will focus on the relative importance of a Classic victory versus the Angler of the Year title, that only begins to hint at what Martin and Clunn have accomplished.

Let’s start with the obvious. Roland Martin has won nine Bassmaster Angler of the Year awards (1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1984 and 1985). That’s three times as many as the next best total and eight more than Clunn, who won a single Angler of the Year crown in 1988.

Rick Clunn has won four Bassmaster Classics, twice as many as the next closest competitor and exactly four more than Martin, who has been to fishing’s biggest tournament 25 times, but never walked away with the trophy. Clunn qualified for 28 consecutive Classics between 1974 and 2001 and recently earned a berth in the 2005 Classic. It will be his record 29th appearance in the event he has made his personal showcase after victories in 1976, 1977, 1984 and 1990.

Martin has fished 277 BASS events and 26 FLW events. Clunn’s totals are 300 and 60, respectively. Martin has won a record 19 times with BASS but never with FLW. Clunn has 14 BASS wins and three FLW victories.

It’s when you get deeper into the numbers that these two really show that their careers may be closer than many think.

Martin has 19 second place BASS finishes and Clunn has 13. Clunn leads with 11 third-place finishes to Martin’s six. Clunn has 96 top ten BASS finishes to Martin’s 92. Clunn has another 20 top ten finishes on the FLW Tour to Martin’s four. Add all of the top tens up and divide by the number of entries and you find that Clunn has finished in the top 10 a total of 32.2 percent of the time to Martin’s 31.7 percent. Barely one-half percent separates them after more than 30 years of competitive fishing!

Clunn has a big edge in the earnings department, having won more of the big dollar events than Martin. Clunn’s BASS earnings total $1,643,744.50, placing him second on the all-time list behind Denny Brauer. Clunn has another $880,000 in FLW winnings for a total of $2,523,744.50 – more than twice Martin’s cumulative total of $1,134,467.20.

But prize money doesn’t tell the whole story here. These guys are too good for that.

Martin’s greatest accomplishment may be his three consecutive BASS victories between November of 1980 and March of 1981. In that period, bass fishing’s golden boy won consecutive events at Lake Okeechobee, Toledo Bend and Lake Eufaula. It’s the only time in BASS history that an angler has won three consecutive tournaments.

Despite his tremendous accolades as a tournament pro, Martin may be best known to millions of fishing fanatics around the world as the longtime host of “Fishing with Roland Martin.” His cries of “Oh son!” are well known to virtually everyone who has ever aspired to a career as a fisherman.

Clunn, in stark contrast, is a quiet, contemplative, even meditative angler who has served as a mentor to a generation of successful bass pros, including Gary Klein, Randy Blaukat and Byron Velvick. His Zen-like approach may seem unconventional to some, but his results can’t be denied.

Clunn won the sport’s first $100,000 payday in 1985 and has won major events not only with BASS and FLW, but with several other organizations, as well. He’s even a two-time winner of the U.S. Open, a prestigious Western title.

Clunn’s weakness in the Greatest Angler Debate (only one Angler of the Year award) is Martin’s strength, and vice-versa. Martin has never won the big one, and Clunn has won the big one multiple times.

Who is the better angler and which title is more important? Even the other top pros can’t agree.

"The two guys who really stand out are Roland and Rick,” said Greatest Angler Debate semifinalist Gary Klein. “They deserve the top two spots, but if I had to pick, it’s hard not to go with Rick."

Another semifinalist, Jay Yelas, agreed on the top two, but will cast his vote the other way.

"Roland is the guy in my mind because of his nine Angler of the Year titles and his 19 wins."

Ultimately, the fans will have to decide.

Check out stats and stories on the Greatest Angler Debate presented by John Deere in the pages of Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times, Bassmaster.com and on the weekly ESPN Outdoors radio show. On June 4, the debate heats up again as the fans choose between the top two anglers during a second round of voting on the Greatest Angler Debate website, which can be found at Bassmaster.com, keyword “Vote”.

The debate will conclude in Pittsburgh — at the 2005 Classic — when two champions are crowned. One will be given the Classic trophy and the other – or perhaps even the same angler! – will be hailed as the greatest angler of all time.

For a chance to fish with one of the 35 greatest anglers of all-time plus have a walk-on role in an ESPN Outdoors show, sign up for the ESPN Greatest Angler Debate Sweepstakes at http://r.espn.go.com/espn/outdoors/gad/.
 

From BASS