Rayo Breckenridge

Rayo Breckenridge (1928—1995) Rayo Franklin Breckenridge was born in 1928 in Beech Grove, Arkansas. After marrying his high school sweetheart, Marilyn Taylor, he settled down and began a successful 20-year career as a cotton farmer. Rayo’s hobbies, outside of his family, were hunting and fishing the woods, lakes, and rivers of Northeast Arkansas.

 

In the late 1960s, he became a member of a local bass club and soon after, joined the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society. In 1971 he won the annual Lake Norfork Bass Club “High-Point” Award, earning him a paid entry fee into a B.A.S.S. National tournament. Using that free entry, he fished the 1972 Arkansas National on Lake Ouachita and finished 35th out of over 250 fishermen. Inspired by his strong finish in that tournament, in 1973 he parked the tractor and followed his dream of fishing the B.A.S.S. National Circuit. At the end of that first season, he was ranked fourteenth and qualified to fish in the third Bassmaster Classic. In late October of that year, on Clarks Hill reservoir in South Carolina, his 52-1/2-pound total bested runner-up Bill Dance by more than 3 pounds and Breckenridge was crowned Classic champion as a rookie.

In January of 1974, his weekly television show started on KAIT-TV in Jonesboro, Arkansas. After five years, gaining a strong regional fan following, it went national and aired until Rayo’s retirement in 1988.

Along with his television career, Rayo continued to compete nationally, racking up over 50 top-20 finishes in professional tournaments, and qualifying for six Bass Masters Classics.

 

Nicknamed “the Gentleman’s Gentleman”, Rayo was known as much for his humble good nature as he was for his skills on the water. He spent countless hours at schools educating the next generation on the opportunities, and responsibilities we all share in regards to wildlife and conservation. Even as his health began to falter, he never turned down an opportunity to speak to groups on issues of conservation and often made guest appearances at MDA, Cystic Fibrosis, and various charity tournaments across the country.

Rayo passed away on Christmas Day in 1995 and was posthumously inducted into the Arkansas Outdoor Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, The Legends of the Outdoors National Hall of Fame in 2012, and the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame in 2014.