Hometown hero wins Classic.
By Bryan Brasher
BASS PRESS RELEASE |
| Ott DeFoe wins Knoxville in style with 49-03lbs. (Photo: James Overstreet BASS) |
Now it’s happened four times in six years.
Tennessee pro Ott DeFoe, who makes his home in Knoxville,
caught five bass Sunday from the Tennessee River that weighed 18 pounds, 14
ounces to win the Super Bowl of Bass Fishing and the $300,000 prize that goes
with the iconic trophy.
His three-day total weight of 49-3 helped him slip past
second-place angler Jacob Wheeler before a raucous home crowd at the University
of Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena.
The world-championship bass tournament drew a record-total
attendance of 153,809 to tournament venues, including daily weigh-ins in
Thompson-Boling Arena, the Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo consumer show
presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods in the Knoxville Convention Center and
World's Fair Exhibition Hall, and morning takeoffs at Volunteer Landing.
Attendance counts, including as many as 6,500 at Saturday’s early-morning
takeoff, were provided by officials at each of the venues. “This is a dream
come true — a dream I’ve had since I was a 9-year-old kid,” said DeFoe, who now
has six career victories with B.A.S.S. “When we came over here and did the
walk-through the day before the tournament, I actually imagined hearing my name
after the words ‘Bassmaster Classic champion.’
“For it to happen now … I just keep thinking I’m gonna wake
up.”
For the first 36 years the event was held, no home-state
angler claimed the Classic crown. But that streak was broken in 2007, and then
home-state anglers won three straight times from 2014-16.
Since DeFoe lives in Knoxville — and since few others in the
52-angler field had much experience on the tournament waters of Fort Loudon and
Tellico lakes — he was one of the obvious favorites coming into the event.
