Harold Sharp

Harold Sharp (1927 – 2015) — A career in the railway industry teaches a person the importance order, organization, punctuality and consistency. After 26 years of living and working by those watchwords, Harold Sharp was perfectly prepared to become the first full-time tournament director for the fledgling Bass Anglers Sportsman Society.

B.A.S.S. founder Ray Scott credits Sharp with ensuring that the cancer of cheating never got a foothold in the Bassmaster Tournament Trail. Sharp was a fair but uncompromising administrator of tournament rules, Scott noted, adding, “The anglers understood that there’s a right way, a wrong way, and Harold’s way.”

In his 18-year career with B.A.S.S., from 1969 through 1986, Sharp created a system of bass competitions and an easy-to-follow rulebook that were widely copied by tournament organizations that came along later. He helped build participation in the events, he advocated for increased payouts, he recruited sponsors, and he played a major role in the creation of signature B.A.S.S. events including the Bassmaster Classic, the Top 100 Pro-Ams, and the first big-money event, B.A.S.S. MegaBucks.

While he was perfectly suited to organizing and running tournaments, that wasn’t the first, or even the most important of his contributions to the evolution of modern bass fishing.

Sharp couldn’t get away from his job at Southern Railway in Chattanooga to fish Ray Scotts first All American at Beaver Lake, Arkansas, but he scraped up the $100 entry fee and enough comp time to fish the Dixie Invitational at Smith Lake, Alabama, in October 1967. He finished 18th and won the big-bass trophy, but more importantly, he met outdoor writer Bob Cobb and tournament angler Don Butler, who had recently formed the Tulsa Bass Club.

Sharp liked the idea so much he got a copy of their bylaws and set up an organizational meeting for the Chattanooga Bass Club upon his return home. With Scott in attendance, Sharp signed up 19 members and was elected president. That same day, January 12, 1968, Sharp became the second member of B.A.S.S., behind Don Butler. He and Scott met throughout the day, drafting rules and regulations for B.A.S.S. and for the Chattanooga club, which became the first in the nation to affiliate with B.A.S.S.

Sharp’s ideas resulted in what is now known as the B.A.S.S. Nation, a network of affiliated bass clubs in 47 states and 11 foreign nations.

Impressed with his new friend’s organizational skills, Scott recruited him to organize the Bassmaster Seminar Trail which used pro anglers including Roland Martin and John Powell to present how-to seminars to packed houses in 101 cities across the nation. At every stop, Sharp presented a short pitch about bass clubs and offered to meet with anyone interested in organizing one. After the seminar tour was over, Sharp examined a map showing the locations of all the affiliated bass clubs, and he saw clusters of clubs around every stop on the circuit.

Over more than a half-century, the B.A.S.S. Nation has played a vital role in crusades for clean water, healthy aquatic resources and wise fisheries management. In this, too, Sharp led the way. He and his Chattanooga Bass Club raised enough money to hire attorneys and join B.A.S.S. in suing more than 200 companies they accused of polluting public waters. Labeled “Peg-a-Polluter,” the initiative drew national attention to industrial pollution of waterways and helped provide the impetus behind the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and passage of the Clean Water Act.

He competed in Scott’s second bass tournament, held on Smith Lake, Alabama, and he became the second member of B.A.S.S. in 1968, after Don Butler. He organized the Chattanooga Bass Club, which became the first bass club to affiliate with B.A.S.S. He drafted rules and guidelines for the organization of clubs, many of which remain in effect for the B.A.S.S. Nation, which has affiliated clubs in 47 states and eight foreign nations.

Sharp retired from B.A.S.S. in 1986, shortly after Scott sold his company to his executive vice president, Helen Sevier, and a group of investors. He moved back to Chattanooga and launched his own company, “Fishin’ Talents,” which represented several professional anglers of the time. Sharp died in 2015, at age 88.

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