RICHMOND, Va. — There was a lot on the line for the latest edition of the Optima Batteries Healing Heroes In Action Tour presented by General Tire.
A lot of hair.
“Jake (Whipkey) and I are pretty competitive,” said Nathan Allen. “Every time we get together we make bad decisions that escalate.”
A shaved head bet was their latest bad decision. Whipkey, Allen and Jeremy Smith, all U.S. Army Purple Heart veterans who served in the 101st Airborne Division, were the participants Monday in the fourth and final 2016 version of this fun/fund-raising activity for the Wounded Warriors In Action Foundation. Bassmaster Elite Series angler Edwin Evers organized these fishing tournaments two years ago.
Allen and Whipkey settled on a competition within the competition: Whoever caught the most weight between those two got to shave the other’s head. The result was considerable trash-talking and, yes, a shaved head.
“Nate’s afraid his wife won’t love him anymore without his hair,” said Whipkey, shortly after the 6:30 a.m. takeoff at Shirley Millpond, a private lake surrounded by three centuries of U.S. History. Whipkey was paired with Evers.
You get an idea of how competitive the reigning Bassmaster Classic champion is when you see him jogging, not walking, through a convenience store parking lot during a brief stop en route to Shirley Millpond.
After the first half-hour on the water, Evers said to Whipkey, “We need to change. Everybody’s throwing topwater, and nobody’s catching anything.”
With that as an example, the Army might want to consider recruiting bass tournament anglers as scouts: Evers always knows where everybody is and what they’re doing.
Allen had announced the day before that Davy Hite would be his pro angler partner.
“I did some Google-stalking and found out Davy was a veteran,” said Allen, so he “claimed” Hite.
Almost every veteran who has earned a Purple Heart and survived has a story that ends with, “It was like it was meant to be.”
Whipkey has one. On Nov. 18, 2007, he was leading a “knock and greet” operation in an Afghanistan city – going door-to-door in gathering intelligence from residents – when he walked out of a house and took two PK machine gun rounds in his right arm and five in the chest. His body armor chest plate took the five otherwise fatal rounds, and only because it had swung into an atypical position. That was because Whipkey hadn’t repaired two broken snaps that held the plate in place the previous day.
“It was like it was meant to be,” said Whipkey.
As a result, the two rounds in his arm did the most damage. A severed radial nerve left his right hand limp. Ultimately, a nerve in Whipkey’s leg was removed and put in his arm to restore function in his hand.
“I know not every veteran can say this, but I don’t think I could have had better medical care,” said Whipkey.
Allen has one of those stories too. He was in a firefight in Afghanistan. While trying to rescue an injured soldier Allen was shot in chest. Maybe the bullet hit a rib and veered down instead of piercing his heart, or maybe it was just meant to be, but the round came to rest near his liver. It cannot be removed because it’s resting near a major artery.
In another meant-to-be story, it was while in the hospital for 30 days that Allen met his future wife, an Army nurse.
Smith, who was paired with Elite Series angler Jason Christie, has a meant-to-be story shared by everyone who has survived a mortar attack. He was in a forward operating base (FOB) near Baghdad, Iraq, when the mortar round exploded, breaking his leg and littering his body with shrapnel. It occurred Oct. 28, 2006. Smith’s lower leg carries a long scar and remains visibly larger than his other one. He suffered a traumatic brain injury as well.
Whipkey and Allen met in the Army and have remained friends over the seven years since. Smith has known both men for about few years too. All three are associates in the Wounded Warriors In Action Foundation, which provides outdoor experiences for Purple Heart veterans.
“Wounded Warriors In Action has changed my life,” said Whipkey. “Just to be on a team again, it has given me a sense of purpose when I didn’t have one.”
You hear that time and time again from veterans: After being 100 percent military for several years, you need to be 100 percent something else, or life can be a confusing struggle.
None of these guys struggled with a fishing rod in his hands Monday. Lots of fish were caught, mostly bass, but also crappie, bluegill, chain pickerel and at least one yellow perch. However, very few of the bass had any weight to them. To be exact, only one bass had any weight to it, but it was a genuine “slaunch,” to use Bassmaster LIVE co-host Mark Zona’s term. A lunker.
That brings us to the meant-to-be moment that occurred Monday. Allen was describing his combat injury to Hite as they were fishing. He was telling about how the bullet that entered his chest made the unexplained downward turn instead of plowing into his heart. He said, “It’s a miracle,” and that’s when the big one hit.
Allen’s previous biggest bass in his life was a 4-pounder. This one weighed 8.88 pounds.
“I was still shaking five minutes later,” said Allen, who caught the big one on a bladed jig about 10:15 a.m.
The tournament wouldn’t end until noon, but it was essentially over. And that prompted Hite to begin bellowing across the lake toward Whipkey a special version of Army marching cadence:
“Mama, mama can’t you see,
What Nathan’s done to me.
Sat me down in a barber’s chair,
Turned me around and I had no hair.”
It was a tune Whipkey would hear repeatedly the remainder of the morning.
I’ve waited 23 years to sing cadence in a bass tournament,” said Hite. “This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity.”
The final results were as follows:
1. Nathan Allen of Aberdeen, Md., and Davy Hite — 14.30 pounds
2. Jacob “Jake” Whipkey of Boswell, Pa., and Edwin Evers — 10.53 pounds
3. Scott Stephenson of Prince George, Va., and Calvin “Catfish” Hunter of Chesterfield, Va. — 9.75 pounds
4. Jeremy Smith of Milford, Pa., and Jason Christie — 9.28 pounds
Then hair clippers were hooked up, Whipkey sat down, and Allen made sure he had no hair – at least on top of his head. Whipkey’s bushy beard wasn’t part of the deal.
The fourth team in this tournament, Stephenson and Hunter, submitted the top bid, which raises money for WWIA. Over $20,000 has been raised in eight events of the Healing Heroes In Action Tour over the past two years. The winning bidders were part of all the activities, which included dinner at the Bass Pro Shops Islamorada Fish Company in Ashland, Va., the night before the tournament.
That’s where Hunter, a Vietnam vet, gave this event some perspective, saying, “I’m so proud to see that our country is now properly honoring our veterans for their service. It hasn’t always been that way.”
Amen to that.
