ColumbiaMagazine.com
Printed from:

Welcome to Columbia Magazine  
 



































 
Campbellsville U adds co-ed bass fishing as a varsity sport

Starts in 2014-15 school year. First head coach is Tommy Hall, of Campbellsville, KY, who now resides in Adair County.

By Chris Megginson
News from Campbellsville University

CAMPBELLSVILLE, KY - Campbellsville University athletics is expanding once again. Co-ed collegiate bass fishing will become CU's next intercollegiate varsity sport, beginning in 2014-15, Rusty Hollingsworth, CU athletic director, announced Tuesday, April 15, 2014.

Campbellsville student anglers have participated in the CU Fishing Club since 2010, but this announcement will make Campbellsville the first co-ed athletic department-supported fishing program in Kentucky, and one of the few in the nation to offer scholarships. There are nine other schools in Kentucky and more than 600 nationwide to offer competitive fishing, mostly as school clubs.



"We are very excited to add co-ed bass fishing to our list of athletic programs being offered at Campbellsville University. We have been discussing adding this as our next sport for a number of years, and are glad to join a competitive group of teams in Kentucky," said Hollingsworth. "Bass fishing is one of the fastest growing sports on college and high school campuses, and we want to be proactive in growing the sport on our campus."

CU's Administrative Council approved the move on March 17 and the CU Board of Trustees voted to add the sport during its April 15 meeting. Bass fishing will be the seventh athletic program started or reinstated in the past six seasons at CU and the 11th in Hollingsworth's 13 years as director of athletics.

First head coach will be Tommy Hall of Campbellsville, KY

In addition to announcing CU's 26th athletic team and 16th sport, Hollingsworth also named Tommy Hall of Campbellsville as the program's first head coach.

"We are excited to have Tommy start our bass fishing team. His experience with college fishing and his personal love of the sport will be a big asset to our program," said Hollingsworth.

Hall, a 1982 graduate of Taylor County High School, works full-time for UPS in Campbellsville after working his family farm for 20 years. His fishing connections run deep in the southeast as a competitive angler for more than 20 years. Before taking a hiatus in recent years, Hall was a member of the 2007 Kentucky Bass Federation State Team, qualified for Redman and BFL regionals as well as competing in the Walmart Bass Fishing League and Rayovac FLW Series.

While competing in tournaments, Hall also helped begin Fellowship of Christian Anglers meetings before Sunday tournaments.

In addition to his competitive fishing, Hall has guided Dale Hollow Lake, Cumberland, Barren River and Green River lakes.

During his hiatus from competitive fishing, Hall has remained current in the world of fishing by working shows as a member of the Ranger Boat pro staff and Yamaha Outboard pro staff. He said he'd been hoping to return to competitive fishing this year, and is excited for his return to be at Campbellsville University.

"God has blessed me with patience that it was going to come back along. I'm like a kid at Christmas with this opportunity coming together with the university. It is perfect timing," said Hall. "I still have the grit of competing in my blood … I'd love to take Campbellsville University's program to the top."

Hall also helped start the Taylor County High School bass fishing team.

He and his wife Karen, a 2008 Kentucky Bass Federation State Team member, reside in Adair County. He has three children: son, Taylor; daughters, Hannah and Samantha. He and Karen also have three grandchildren from Samantha and her husband Brandon: Ethan, Evan and Emma.

The entire family has fished competitively over the years and been featured in local and national publications.

Competitive fishing at scholastic level is nothing new in Kentucky

Competitive fishing at the scholastic level is definitely nothing new in Kentucky.

Kentucky became the second state to add bass fishing as a sanctioned high school sport in 2012-13, joining Illinois and now Tennessee as the first three states to do so. Competitive cheerleading and bowling also became Kentucky High School Athletic Association sports that season. Campbellsville University offers athletic scholarships in each of those sports.

Collegiate bass fishing is believed to have begun in 1992 when a group from Purdue challenged a group from Indiana University to a fishing tournament. A decade later, the Collegiate Bass Anglers Association was formed, but was short lived. Today, there are three organizations for collegiate bass fishing: the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series debuted in 2005, followed by the inaugural Association of Collegiate Anglers (ACA) Cabela's Collegiate Bass Fishing Tournament Series in 2006 and FLW College Fishing was introduced in 2009.

Campbellsville will join Adrian College (Mich.) as the only schools to announce the addition of the sport for 2014-15 so far. - Chris Megginson


This story was posted on 2014-04-15 18:53:01
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know.



Tommy Hall will be first fishing coach at Campbellsville U



2014-04-15 - Campbellsville, KY - Photo CU Photo. Tommy Hall, a 1982 graduate of Taylor County High School, will be the first coach of Campbellsville University fishing team. He is a resident of Adair County.
Read More... | Comments? | Click here to share, print, or bookmark this photo.



 

































 
 
Quick Links to Popular Features


Looking for a story or picture?
Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com.

 

Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728.
Phone: 270.403.0017


Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.