March 10, 2016
MARSHALL, Texas (3/10/16) – Setting their lures to become the best collegiate program in the United States for collegiate bass fishing, East Texas Baptist University will enter the bass fishing world starting a new program for 2016-17 and will be sponsored by Skeeter Boats. This club sport will allow anglers to fish on the best lakes in East Texas and the United States on the best boats in the nation.
“We are looking at how to expand our sports opportunities to students that desire to be at the university and bass fishing is an emerging sport across the country in high school and college. There are over 300 college angler teams across the country and we wanted to be a part of that,” says ETBU President Dr. J. Blair Blackburn. “For us knowing that Skeeter Boats are in our region and learning of its history that Mr. Thurmon, from Shreveport, La., designed the first Skeeter Boat and me being born in Shreveport and from Minden, La., for that boat to be manufactured first in Marshall, Texas, is amazing to see the history and legacy of that and now here we are at ETBU partnering with the #1 bass performing boat in the world.”
As the first college to sign with Skeeter Boats, ETBU will be fishing with the top boats in the United States. Skeeter has been the leader in performance fishing boats for over 65 years and is coming back to its roots where Holmes Thurman made the first bass boat in Marshall, Texas, in 1948. Skeeter Boats launched the first bass boat by Holmes and has since been setting the tone for the bass fishing industry. For 13 straight years they have also been recognized for “Excellence in Customer Satisfaction for Fiberglass Outdoor Boats.”
““We are extremely excited to partner with East Texas Baptist University in their efforts to bring the sport of bass fishing to their great school but most importantly to join them in achieving their mission of standing as a Christ centered institution of higher learning. Most recently we have seen the sport of bass fishing explode at the collegiate and the high school levels and we are very proud to have ETBU become the first university that we have sponsored at Skeeter,” comments Senior Vice President of Skeeter Boats Jeff Stone.
Offering scholarships as a club sport, ETBU will be able to attract the top anglers in the United States.
“We want the very best anglers coming out of high school and other community colleges and there might be some other anglers at other institutions that decide ETBU might be a better fit for them and we welcome them if God calls them and we are going to try and help them as best we can to try and make their college experience more affordable,” comments Blackburn. “We will provide $5,000 scholarships annually for each angler that is on the team. For a four-year student that is $20,000 and of course that could partner with our Christian Leadership scholarship that is up to $5,000 our Academic Excellence scholarship up to $11,000 and you start putting that together is $16,000 plus the $5,000 that’s $21,000 and if an angler has a church-match scholarship and you can really reduce the cost for what it makes to go to a Christ-centered education very affordable. We want young men and women to be transformed. We want their lives to be transformed and we want to challenge them to go out and transform the lives of other people and they can do that through bass fishing.”
The anglers will have the best equipment to use for competition along with Skeeter Boats to use and Yamaha Engines to drive them with. They will compete all over Texas and the south against other top collegiate bass fishing teams on the B.A.S.S., FLW, and a third circuit series yet to be determined for the rights to be named the best all with the ETBU brand.
“Skeeter reflects excellency in the staff and how they live their life with Christ and it’s manifested in how they build their boats,” says Blackburn. “Mr. Taylor who is the Vice President of Operations oversees the manufacturing of the boats and is such a quality person. You have quality people who are committed to a high standard and that conveys to our anglers how they need to live their life. Hopefully some them will continue to do well and maybe be on the professional circuit and could be what is started here at Skeeter Boats in Kilgore.”
Adding bass fishing is a part of Dr. Blackburn’s vision for ETBU. This is not the first time that Blackburn has worked with a bass fishing team. While at Dallas Baptist University, Blackburn helped start their bass fishing program that is now a top 10 program in the nation. He set a vision for the program from the start and also found a boat sponsor for the program to fish from.
Blackburn says, “We started thinking about a bass partnership knowing we needed boats on the water and who we would look to as it is a God thing. It was a provision through Jeff Stone as I spoke to his church of First Baptist in Longview and he was there and he reached out to me and made a connection through some people that we knew mutually. We had lunch and talked about what had been done in the past with leadership on bass fishing development and he had interest with Skeeter expanding their involvement in the collegiate market and he said he wanted to do the first partnership with any collegiate with ETBU with the proximity to Marshall and the history of the first boat being built in Marshall. Jeff has a love for the Lord and man of strong Christian faith and he believes in what we are doing and that we will use bass fishing as an instrument for evangelism and ministry.
The Bible tells us that Jesus wants us to become “fishers of men” and that is what the ETBU bass fishing program will stand upon. Mark 1:17 states, “Come follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” ETBU wants to bring in the top Christian anglers in the United States to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ through fishing and through their daily actions in life.
“We are going to proclaim Christ because that is who we are as a Christ institution and emblazed on our boat will be Mark 1:17 ‘Follow me, be my disciples, and I will make you fishers of men,” says Blackburn. “Our anglers, both men and women, will reflect the light of Christ and as we say at ETBU ‘let the light on the Hill never die’ and so let that light leave our campus and be on the water early in the morning as they fish. I know our men and women anglers will be out there sharing the Lord and loving on people and being competitive. God calls us to be excellent and reflect His excellence and so we are going to put the best anglers with the best equipment on the water and it just fits.”
Bass fishing is a way of life in East Texas and ETBU will have plenty of area lakes to practice at. With several lakes in the area that produce great bass fishing like Caddo Lake and Toledo Bend, anglers will be able to fish year round, too, as there are hot bed lakes available for fishing in the winter.
East Texas now becomes one of the hottest areas for college students to come fish while getting a great education at East Texas Baptist University. The new club sport will officially begin in September 2016.