Hall of Fame: Why not Elias?

Paul Elias won the Bassmaster Classic in 1982.

Fisherman should be Shrine’s first outdoorsman inducted

Six deserving names will be added to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in Jackson Friday night, two football players, a basketball star, an athletic trainer/tennis coach, a sports publicist, and a sports broadcaster who for 16 years was the face of the state’s Sports Hall of Fame.

Their induction Friday night at the Hilton will bring the membership of arguably the best state Hall of Fame in the country, talent-wise, to nearly 350. Few other states can boast of names like Favre, Peyton or Rice, or for that matter Dizzy or Cool Papa.

My late dad, Ace, a sports writer and publicist, is a member, and my brother, Rick, without doubt the best sports writer this state has produced, is the current executive director of the Museum, where the Hall of Fame is honored. He, too, will one day be enshrined.

So, it goes without saying that the Hall of Fame means a lot to me.

That said, there is a hole — no, make that a chasm — in the shrine.

The selection committees have turned a blind eye toward outdoor sports, fishing and hunting, which, when you really think about it, are the most important sports in this state’s great heritage.

More people have participated in those sports than any other, and some have done so with a level of success and expertise that warrants Hall of Fame selection. We have sportsmen who have had success in competition and others who have revolutionized their sports.

Paul Elias, a native of Laurel, is the obvious choice to be the first. The professional bass fisherman has, and continues to, put up numbers in his sport that few existing members of the Hall of Fame could match, at least in the realm of individual sports.

Elias has won his sport’s biggest event, the Bassmaster Classic, which would be equal to golf’s four majors, tennis’ grand slam events and auto racing’s Indy 500 or Daytona 500.

He has won eight National Tour titles, six on B.A.S.S. and two on FLW, which would compare to PGA, LPGA or NASCAR, for example.

Elias has over $1.2 million in career winnings, and at 62 continues to add to that number.

He was 59 when he set the all time four-day (5-fish daily limit) tournament record — an amazing 132.8 pounds at Falcon Lake in Texas. That’s an amazing 6.64-pound per fish average.

Elias’ resume is solid, far better than many current Hall of Famers who participated in individual sports at the professional level. Let’s see:

* Lake Speed, the NASCAR driver from Jackson and only auto racing Hall of Famer, won only one Winston Cup race, the Southern 500.

* Johnny Pott, the state’s most successful native PGA pro, won five Tour events, but no majors.

* Cary Middlecoff’s PGA record is beyond reproach — 40 Tour wins including the Masters and U.S. Open — but he was born in Tennessee and qualified for induction only because he attended college at Ole Miss.

* Mississippi’s only native that can boast better numbers is former LPGA great, Mary Mills, also born in Laurel and resided in Biloxi. Mills won eight straight State Amateur titles before joining the LPGA Tour in 1962. Over 19 years, she posted nine Tour wins, including three majors.

* None of the tennis members, although they are deserving of their induction for other accomplishments, can match Elias’ professional numbers.

Obviously, Elias is deserving of induction. He is officially nominated — twice, by me, once about 10 years ago and again three years ago.

That leaves only one explanation: The selection committees don’t feel fishermen, or hunters for that matter, deserve a place in the Hall of Fame. That bothers me more than Elias’ exclusion.

I could write for days about how wrong that is, but I won’t today.

It has been suggested that we should start a Mississippi Hunting and Fishing Hall of Fame, which we certainly could and soon fill with some people who have been successful and revolutionary.

As good as it sounds, it still wouldn’t be THE shrine that is the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

Elias should be a member.

About Bobby Cleveland 1343 Articles
Bobby Cleveland has covered sports in Mississippi for over 40 years. A native of Hattiesburg and graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, Cleveland lives on Ross Barnett Reservoir near Jackson with his wife Pam.

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