Meanwhile bass circuits were popping up all over the West in the late 70s and early 80s. Rich Schultz and Don Doty, who had just bought the Southwest Association of Bass Champions, known as SWAB, from Fred Ward, approached Burt Twilegar at WON and made him an offer for Western Bass that was too good to turn down. Schultz and Doty eventually renamed their company U.S. Bass and set off in a blaze of glory and dollar bills that had its own effect on the history of bass fishing. Meanwhile Naslund moved on to run- ning the sales department of one of the biggest RV dealers in the world and in 1986 was struck by severe chest pain. “The cardiol- ogist told me I didn’t have a heart attack, but if I didn’t get a less stressful job I was going to have one,” said Naslund. “Earlier I got a call from Burt indicating they were talking about reviving a bass circuit at Western Outdoors. So I called him.” Naslund signed on with newly created WON BASS as director and immediately came up with the “brilliant idea” to create a tour based on seven invitational bass tourna- ments sponsored by seven different boat manufacturers, each to provide a bass boat and $10,000 for the winner. “The boys at Skeeter were all over it, but I had to have Ranger,” recalled Naslund. “Forrest is up in Northern California for Larry Viviano’s Classic, stopping over in the Sacramento airport. I fly up there to meet with him with Bob Rogers, who was mar- keting director. “We have our meeting in the airport, Charlie Hoover is there with Forrest Wood, and we sit down and I go over the program with them. Forrest says, ‘Well Hahhvey, that looks like a pretty good program for you fellas, it looks like it will generate a lot of ad- vertising and support from seven different boat companies, I think you’ve got a plan that will work, I wish you all the luck in the world, but I’m going to pass.’ “I said you’re gonna what!” “He said, ‘You know, I think when Ranger sponsors an event we bring a lot of credibility and I’m not ready to share that.’ “I sat there for a second and I said, how much time I got? When does your plane go — it was his plane sitting on the runway — he said, ‘how much time you need?’ I say I need about 10 minutes by myself. Rogers says ‘do you want me to go with you?’ I say nope.
Larry Hopper spent a lot of time on the podium talking to tournament director Harvey Naslund.
“So I go upstairs to the bar, it’s empty, I get me a glass of soda and I think, I am dead with- out Forrest. Maybe not, but from a loyalty standpoint if I can’t have Forrest Wood with me, I don’t want it. Not after what he did for me the first time around. “I walk back down, I’m thinking about it, and Forrest said, ‘Well Hahhvey, what do you think?’ I said well Forrest, I think anybody who comes t o you with a plan that’s in con- crete has got a bad plan.” “He says ‘Well you know, there’s some truth to that, in many ways.’ And I said, so here’s the deal Forrest, I want you to be the exclusive sponsor, I want 7 boats and 80,000 dollars.” “He says, ‘We’re partners.’ I will remember that until I die, the way he put it, he never hes- itated, he said ‘We’re partners.’ Forrest knows I have told many, many people over the years that I wouldn’t have lasted 3 years in the bass fishing industry without him.” Not only did Forrest Wood step up in the Sacramento airport for the “second coming” of Harvey Naslund, he soon had another opportunity, seeing that a boat needs a motor. “I was in trouble, Mercury decided they were not going to go with me when I came back to WON BASS,” said Naslund. “Mercury’s Dan Schad, who I knew really well, said ‘Harvey, there’s nothing I can do, they’ve changed directions, we’re not going to be a sponsor.’ I don’t have a motor sponsor to go with the Ranger deal. “There was a boat show in Chicago a week later and Forrest was there. He went to
dinner with the powers that be at Mercury. All he said was, “I guess you folks are aware I am the main sponsor for WON and their bass deals. I would take it kindly if you join me in this effort.’ And that’s all it took. “What Mike Folkestad said that day at Clear Lake changed my life.” The new WON BASS tour debuted at that same lake in September of 1988 and drew 122 boats, a record for the time. And with the for- mat still a straight head-to-head draw, every one of those anglers was entered as a pro. “No one has ever drawn 244 pros to a tournament, not even FLW,” said Naslund. “They may have drawn more boats, but the anglers in the back were co-anglers. Of course, the entry fee was $100, not $2000.” “The clout of WON allowed me to play a role that would not have been possible otherwise, but I never would have made it without Forrest Wood,” said Naslund. “Can you imagine sitting down and asking for 9, 10 boats and getting them every time? Forrest and Ranger made all the difference in the world.” And the tournament circuits Naslund ran were not the only ones to benefit — in fact, Don Lee noted that all the successful circuits of the last 40 years have one thing in common — Ranger Boats and and Forrest and Nina Wood got them started and kept them going. “If it wasn’t for Ranger, there would be no bass circuits, even B.A.S.S.,” said Lee. “Forrest put everyone in business who is in business to- day, all the majors, he put ‘em in business, in- cluding Operation Bass that is now FLW.”
July 2011 _ SILVER EAGLES 17