Iovino, Martin-Wells, Omori, Pierce, Whitaker enshrined; Bill Dance receives lifetime achievement award
Sept. 25, 2026 — Mike Whitaker thanked his attorney friend who drove him to the ceremony. Rick Pierce thanked his father and countless others. Takahiro Omori was thankful his childhood plan came together.
Gratitude was a theme of the evening inside the White River Conference Center on Thursday night as the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame welcomed five new members at its annual induction ceremony. In addition to Whitaker, Pierce and Omori, Don Iovino and Pam Martin-Wells were also recognized for their achievements and contributions to the sport of bass fishing on and off the water.
Before a packed room at the White River Conference Center that included 20 other Hall of Famers and leaders from across the sport, the Hall’s newest induction class represented a diverse cross-section of bass fishing. In addition, Bill Dance, a 2001 Hall of Fame inductee, received the Ray Murski Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his endless impact on the sport as a competitor, promoter and ambassador.
Through the Hall’s fundraising efforts, including its annual Celebrate Bass Fishing Week auction, more than $150,000 was raised to help fund improvements to the Hall of Fame space within Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Aquarium and Museum in addition to its scholarship program and conservation grant efforts.
“We continue to be amazed at the response from the bass fishing public about our annual banquet and auction,” said Hall of Fame board president Bruce Stanton. “Our house was sold out, and it was impressive to see two standing ovations for the legendary Bill Dance.
“Our Hall is important to our bass fishing lifestyle. It’s so impressive to see our board come together to create a vision for it and make it come to life. Thanks to everyone who is playing a part in it!”
Finesse Forefather
Iovino is a pioneer of finesse fishing from Southern California who is credited with adding new dimensions to how anglers targeted bass in deep, clear reservoirs. The 88-year-old Iovino, who lives in Burbank, Calif., was unable to attend due to health reasons, but remains active in packaging and shipping lures sold by his namesake company. He was represented by his oldest daughter, Patty Welzel, who recited the origin of her father’s obsession with bass fishing.
She relayed a story that in 1970, Iovino learned about a dam being built in the city of Castaic, Calif. He frequently visited the area that would later become the world-renowned Castaic Lake. He photographed the topography and landmarks to better understand where key, fish-holding features were located once they were submerged. Castaic became the testing ground for many of his deep-water techniques that shaped his love of finesse fishing, which was mostly a foreign concept to his counterparts in the Southeast. He was an avid live-bait fisherman and used his experience to guide his development of the first hand-poured worms.
“When I asked him what he wanted to say to all of you, he wanted to share his dedication to mom,” Welzel said about her late mother, Darlene, who passed away 14 years ago. “To my loving wife, Darlene, who has given her love and support during the good times but especially during the tough times. It took a leap of faith to end one career leaving an established profession and starting anew without knowing what lay ahead in the fishing industry. Her tremendous confidence in me to be able to support our family was in fact often greater than what I had in myself.”
Breaking Down Barriers
Pam Martin-Wells was a trailblazer in every sense, right up to her death in 2025 after a lengthy battle with ovarian cancer. The Bainbridge, Ga., native posted more than 30 tournament victories and collected 10 Angler of the Year awards across multiple women’s fishing trails. In 2010, she became the first (and only) woman to ever qualify for the final day of the Bassmaster Classic, eventually finishing 22nd in a star-studded field. She went on to make a lasting impact off the water as a mentor to many and also served as the coach of the bass fishing team at Emmanuel University in her native Georgia.
Appearing on her behalf was Don Day, the longtime in-arena voice of the Bassmaster Classic who grew up in the same town as Martin-Wells. Day offered remarks shared by Steven Wells, Martin-Wells’ husband, who was unable to attend.
“Those numbers don’t tell you Pam’s entire story,” Day read. “They don’t tell how many times she had to prove something that others were simply allowed to assume by themselves. They don’t tell you about the doors that didn’t open. They don’t tell you about the opportunities that somehow went somewhere else, the recognition that didn’t come. The ideas that weren’t always credited where they belonged or the occasions where Pam discovered that being one of the very best in the business still didn’t mean being treated as one of the best.”
Rather than get discouraged by the established norms of the male-dominated pro side of bass fishing, Martin-Wells continued to forge her own trail, dominating on the water and sharing her passion off of it.
“There comes a point where excellence becomes impossible to ignore and Pam reached that point a long time ago. That’s what makes tonight both wonderful and, if we’re being truthful, bittersweet,” Day said, continuing to read from Steven Wells’ remarks. “I’m deeply grateful that Pam’s name will forever be in its rightful place in the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame, but I also wish she was standing here to receive this honor herself. Perhaps there is a lesson in that. Recognition is a wonderful thing, but recognition delayed cannot replace opportunities denied. An honor bestowed today cannot rewrite yesterday. What it can do is make tomorrow better. Pam spent her life making tomorrow better for the anglers who came behind her.”
He Knew It All Along
All Omori wanted to do from the time he graduated from high school in Japan was pursue a career as a professional bass angler. He realized that dream upon moving to the United States for good in 1997 and rose to prominence with a tireless work ethic that helped him apply his skills to the North American bass scene and become one of the most important figures in the sport’s history.
“This is a big honor and I’m very humbled to be inducted into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame,” he said. “Coming from Japan, I had no connections here, no friends, no money, no sponsors. And to be here today, I never dreamed about it.
“When Mark Davis told me earlier this year that I was being inducted, I was a bit surprised. I see a lot of big-name guys accomplish a lot of stuff and they picked me. To be honest, it still hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m still fishing hard and still looking for more in the future. It’s unbelievable.”
Still an active competitor on the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour, Omori became the circuit’s oldest winner at age 53 earlier this year at Lake Hartwell. He will be forever remembered for making the phrase “I knew it!” part of the bass fishing lexicon as he drove his boat back to weigh-in on the final day of the 2004 Bassmaster Classic, which he won in dramatic fashion thanks to a last-minute flurry of catches.
On Thursday, Omori said the expression was more meant to encompass his conviction about achieving his dreams of being a successful angler rather than knowing he’d catch the fish to help him win that tournament. That victory made him the first non-U.S. angler to win the Classic and helped pave the way for other foreign-born anglers to compete on the U.S. bass circuits.
“I fully committed and I believed in myself and put everything into it and it happened,” he said. “That’s the meaning when everybody talks about ‘I knew it.’”
A Tale of Family and the Future
Rick Pierce helped carry forward the legacy his parents, Ron and Jan, started at Bass Cat Boats and made the Mountain Home, Ark.-based brand a household name in the bass boat world. Pierce’s innovative creations and unwavering commitment to customer service are part of the fabric of Bass Cat. Many of the design elements he developed now come standard in boats across the industry.
“I’m not a comedian,” Pierce said at the outset of his acceptance speech. “Most of what I do comes from heart and passion. It is very humbling to stand here with the legends of the sport and people I grew up with.
“I live my life by three principles and have for a long time,” Pierce added later. “Always have a reason for everything you do. Be thorough in it and think it through from all angles. That can be hard to do. Last of all, do the right thing. The right thing isn’t always what’s good for you. It often isn’t. It may not be what’s good for your company, but it’s the right thing given the situation and I’ve always tried to do that.”
He thanked his late father for “letting me play in his toy box” and allowing him to take a hands-on approach to learning all the aspects of the boat manufacturing process.
“I call this a Ken Griffey moment,” Pierce said in reference to the longtime Major League Baseball player better known as the father of Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. “There is no Ken Griffey Jr. without Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. is in the Hall of Fame but Ken Griffey isn’t.”
Pierce, whose birthday was Thursday, offered a reminder that his induction into the Hall of Fame does not mean his contributions will cease. He invoked Rick Clunn’s famous quote, “Never accept that all your greatest moments are in the past.” He remains active with Bass Cat and continues to offer insight on various projects. He intends to stay as hands on as possible.
“I’m going to keep rolling. I want to do this,” he said. “I have a passion to go on. I’m not going to quit. I ain’t done yet.”
Sound Advice from a Legend
Mike Whitaker left his mark on the sport by creating a competitive platform that casual anglers could use to stoke their passion and launch careers in bass fishing. He founded Operation Bass in 1979. A groundbreaking partnership with the Pinkerton Tobacco Company followed, leading to the creation of the Red Man Tournament Trail and prestigious All-American Championship. He was at the helm when Shaw Grigsby won the first six-figure payday in the sport at Florida’s Kissimmee Chain of Lakes.
Whitaker later sold Operation Bass to Irwin Jacobs, who expanded it and renamed it FLW Outdoors, which eventually became the largest tournament organization in the world.
“To have my name placed alongside the people who built and shaped this great sport is an honor that my family and I will forever cherish,” Whitaker said. “I am deeply grateful.”
He recalled a day in the boat with Forrest L. Wood, the founder of Ranger Boats. Whitaker quizzed Wood on the keys to Ranger’s success in the boat business.
“Give the customer something for his money, then all of those other things will fall into place,” Wood told Whitaker plainly.
Months later over a coffee in Wood’s office in Flippin, Ark., Whitaker confided that he was considering leaving his current job and devoting all of his time to developing a bass fishing magazine and regional tournament circuit.
“Give the fishermen something for their money,” Wood told Whitaker again.
“During my drive home, I realized Forrest had given me more than business advice,” Whitaker said. “He’d given me the foundation for Operation Bass. From that day forward, our priority was always the fishermen.”
At its height, Operation Bass employed 50 people, staged more than 150 events each year and drew more than 20,000 participants. The magazine’s circulation topped out at 80,000. The company was profitable.
“I’m proud of all that, but truth is it wasn’t me,” Whitaker said. “The real story is the tens of thousands of fishermen who showed up.”
In closing, Whitaker offered thanks to the reason everyone was gathered in the room.
“I want to thank the good Lord for the most important Hall of Famer in this entire room,” Whitaker said. “The bass. We do not want to hurt you. We just want to play a game of tag with you. You’ve kept us anglers, bait makers, boat builders, and tackle designers awake at night trying to figure out how to win that game of tag. You’ve caused disappointment, confusion, pain and some occasional language that probably shouldn’t be used at the Hall of Fame dinner.
“You’ve also given us smiles, friendship, accomplishment, beautiful mornings, unforgettable memories and adrenaline rushes that stay with us forever.”
Dance Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award
Dance is the fourth recipient of the Murski Award, joining Ray Scott, Johnny Morris and Rick Clunn.
“When you go to a Bassmaster Classic or ICAST or a Bass Pro Shops grand opening, to find Bill Dance you just look for the long line of people,” Stanton said in introducing Dance. “It’s usually an hour to an hour and a half that people stand in line, to this day, to meet the 86-year-old man with the ‘T’ cap because they love him. And he loves them back. It’s something not a lot of people can say in our sport or any sport.”
Dance, donning his signature white University of Tennessee ballcap and blue Hall of Fame blazer, spoke of a chance meeting with Murski at a tournament at Smith Lake near Jasper, Ala., years ago during which he tutored Murski on how to catch spotted bass out of timber on a jigging spoon in 50 feet of water.
“That was the beginning of a great friendship,” Dance said. “Ray was a good man – a man of integrity, generosity and character. He was someone who truly loved this sport and the people in it. I was fortunate enough to call him my friend and that makes tonight all the more meaningful.”
Information about the 2027 Hall of Fame nomination process will be announced soon. The 2027 induction ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 30, 2027, at Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Aquarium and Museum in Springfield, Mo.