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In the early 70′s, a core group of Deaf guys from the Texas and Louisiana, with love for outdoors and fishing decided to start a fishing club; it started out as a family gathering sort of event which evolved into the more official National Bass Association for the Deaf. When the boating organization started in 1976, the members had only 30 boats, all old ones. Since then, that number has grown into a national level, and it is not unusual to see up to 100 boats at the event.
NBAD never folded after that, and has been 31 years in the running since then.
Sports Shop owner Anthony Mowad and Robert Southwell co-founded NBAD and Southwell served as NBAD’S first President, a post he held for two years before handing the mantle of Presidency to Magil Medford, who ended up as one of the two longest-term members of NBAD, who recently fished at the 31st National Bass Association for the Deaf Tournament at Table Rock Lake in Kimberling City, MO.
Mowad and Southwell were influenced by the exposure of other deaf sports organizations in basketball, softball, even scuba diving. They wanted Bass fishing to have an organization of its own, so outdoor deaf folks could share a common interest and take the sport to a new level.
Before Magil became a lifetime member of NBAD, he decided to join a hearing Bass club but realized NBAD offered a better social life because all members were Deaf. Otherwise he could have been staring at his lure trying to decide what color lure to attract Bass other than communicating with somebody.
Three members have perfect attendance for over 30 years in the NBAD event, which were Medford Magill, Charles Marsh Jr, and Jerry Mikus. All three are legendary fishermen.
In the old days, even until up to the time the current President Mack Wilson of Missouri took over, all equipment and organization of club was totally outdated. Wilson, a longtime secretary for NBAD, decided to attract more sponsors and give the organization a complete overhaul.
Wilson knew that we live in the age of high technology; without new equipment the process was stagnant. Meetings were longer, there was less visibility, and since more people have access to the net and use pagers nowadays, things had to change. Wilson took NBAD to a new direction with new laptop, PowerPoint presentations, and a new digital scale. The old scale was inaccurate because when you weighed the Bass, the arrow would sway back and forth.
Now NBAD boasts of over 250 members nationwide, and their motto is “Have a rod, will travel,” which stands true on this day.
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