BROOKELAND – Bob Sealy, who put Lake Sam Rayburn on the map with his Big Bass Splash fishing tournaments, died last Wednesday, following a battle with cancer, at the age of 75.
In an interview with Sealy, for a feature story in an issue of the East Texan magazine in 2019, Sealy said that he’d “always been a firm believer that we’re put on this earth for a purpose,” “I want this legacy to continue. I count my blessings every day,” he added. Sealy, as CEO and creator of the Big Bass Splash tournaments, created quite a legacy.
The friendly Sealy, who was a gifted storyteller, had a lifelong love of bass fishing, and competed in several Bassmaster tournaments in the 1980s. He was able to convince B.A.S.S. founder Ray Scott to bring a Bassmasters tournament to Sam Rayburn.
Since 1984, the Big Bass Splash has been able to give amateur fishermen the chance to “win like the pros,” as Sealy Outdoors’ motto states.
The concept for the Big Bass Splash tournament went back to nearly 50 years ago, when Sealy, along with the owners of three radio stations, partnered to put on an event on Lowe’s Creek on Toledo Bend.
After six years of putting the event on at that location, and with partners in the radio business, Sealy went out on his own, initially sponsored by Burger King for a couple of years.
A meeting with Jack Schwartz, then owner of the Jasper McDonald’s franchise, set the wheels in motion. Schwartz was interested in helping Sealy, but under one condition: that the event benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Sealy, who had not heard of the Ronald McDonald House, agreed to tour one of the facilities in Houston.
“It didn’t take very long,” he said. “That Ronald McDonald House in Houston is an amazing facility, and they do amazing things for families of kids who are being treated for catastrophic diseases.”
The first year that McDonald’s sponsored the tournament, it was a one-day event with 692 entries. “We only guaranteed $10,000, overall,” Sealy said. By year three, the tournament boasted 2,267 entrants, a top prize of more than $16,000 and two boats to give away.
Through the years, the ranks of entrants grew in number, and so did the prize payouts. Big Bass Splash and its host lake became such a force that Texas Parks and Wildlife stated through a recent economic impact study that within five days, the tournament and all of its accompanying activities generhome.
ated $17 million for the five-county fishing guy” in reference to him.
area around the lake. “Fishing is not a luxury, it’s an industry,” he said.
In 2017, he was inducted into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame. As the East Texan piece noted, there are names in popular culture synonymous with certain things, like “Colonel Sanders” as a synonym for fried chicken. With Sealy, it was common to hear people say “the Sealy attributed his passions, namely his desire to help others and to give back to his community, to his upbringing. on a ranch, where hard work was the daily norm, and pleasure came grandfather introduced him to.
Sealy wound up at Lake Sam Rayburn when he was selling real estate in Illinois for a company was right across the highway from McDonald’s corporate headquarters. An associate asked him to with a project, he knew he’d found
He grew up in Thornton, Texas in the form of fishing, which his called Boise Cascade, a firm which come to the area after hed com pleted a resort project. This was in 1969 and after helping his associate
In the 70s Sealy got to know B.A.S.S. founder Scott, who was something of a mentor to him. Sealy was fishing professionally at the time but admits that he couldn’t compete with the likes of Scott.
The economic growth of the fishing industry helped push Sealy in the direction of his tournament concept: events where amateurs could win, and be treated like pros.
At present, the Big Bass Splash events are held on locales like Lake Guntersville, Alabama and Lake Chickamauga, Tennessee, among others.
The Sam Rayburn event has drawn the attention of statesmen and celebrities alike, and placed Sealy on National Geographic programs, as well as inductions into the Legends of The Outdoors National Hall of Fame and the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame.
Sealy’s obituary ended with the phrase, which might have been popularized at one time by the Bachman-Turner Overdrive song, but has become synonymous with Sealy, from those who’ve attended a Big Bass Splash tournament: “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”.
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