Kyle Williams named "Player of the Game" in BB XIV
THE BASS BOWL STORY
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At The Bass Bowl, we are passionate about football and we want to share our love for the sport with others. Our mission is to provide fans with the latest news, scores, and analysis, as well as a platform to connect with each other.
HOW IT BEGAN
ROB ISHIHARA
Rob Ishihara starred as a 3-year varsity starting quarterback for Kelseyville High in the late 90's. He led his team to 24 wins during his tenure, making him one of the all-time Lake County leader in wins for a starting varsity quarterback. The toughest games he experienced were against Clear Lake High.
After a few years as head coach for Kelseyville High JV team, he was hired as varsity head coach in 2010. He learned quickly that the team had lots of needs and very little money was provided by the school to meet those needs. He realized that to be successful, fundraising was going to have to be a large part of his coaching duties. He created a Crab Feast Fundraiser that was successful, but it was not enough.
Ishihara's day job was being a Realtor for Country Air Properties. One Monday while at work, another Kelseyville alumni, Boone Bridges, stopped by with some real estate questions. Isihara changed the topics to his funding raising challenges. This discussion was on a Monday before the Friday night game between Kelseyville and Clear Lake.
THE MEETING
One of the ideas they game up with was to give a name to the rivalry game between Kelseyville and Clear Lake, similar to other rivalries across the country, such as the Iron Bowl (Alabama vs Auburn) or the Big Game (Stanford vs Cal.) They thought they could fund-raise off of such a promotion.
But what to call it?
Phil Smoley, broker of Country Air Properties, was in his office nearby, so they went to see him as they thought he always had good ideas. They presented their vision, and the 3 of them went to work on thinking up a name. "The Pear Bowl" was too Kelseyville. "The Clear Lake Bowl" had too many issues. Someone threw out "The Bass Bowl." Smoley liked it and checked to see if that domain name was available. It was, and he bought it. They agreed to call the game "The Bass Bowl."
Once the name was settled, ideas began to flow as to how to leverage the event into fund-raising opportunities. Ideas such as having a Bass Bowl bass tournament, a "Kiss My Bass" fundraiser, "Bass Bowling" at Lakeside Lanes, having a beauty pageant with a queen from each school being chosen, a parade, an off-site tail gate party.
But when and how would it start? The next game between the two schools was in less than 5 days. Should the idea be held off for the following year? No decision was reached, and the meeting ended just before lunch. The 3 attendees formed the nucleus of the Bass Bowl Committee.
THE BASS TROPHY
After lunch reps from the local title/escrow company, Dave Lucido and John Ussery, dropped in the office. Ishihara, excited about the earlier discussion, shared the ideas with them. They agreed that it was all a great idea, and then they left to make other stops. While they were out and about, they saw a large wood carving of a largemouth bass in someone's front yard. They thought it would be perfect for the Bass Bowl idea Ishihara just shared with them. They decided to stop and ask the owner if he would part with it. Soon, they were back at Country Air Properties with what would become the Bass Bowl Trophy. It was dirty and weathered. Ishihara was ecstatic and brought it in to Smoley who then said "That's what we needed. Bass Bowl begins this week!"
Smoley took the bass carving to Mark Colp at Wooden Creations. Colp is one of the world's best chain saw wood carvers. Smoley asked if he could clean up the carving, re-varnish it, and have it ready by Friday. Colp said "No problem. It will be ready on time and look like new."
3 DAYS TO GAME TIME
Smoley returned to the office and wrote out a press release announcing that the name of Friday night's game was to be the first inaugural Bass Bowl. The next day, the Record Bee ran it along with a picture of the Bass trophy.
Realizing that the speed of events was problematic, on Tuesday, Smoley made an appointment with the principle of Clear Lake High, Steve Gentry, to discuss what could be done to promote the Bass Bowl at Friday's game.
Gentry seemed supportive of the concept but said it would have been better if he was informed of this earlier instead 3 days before the game. Smoley responded that the idea didn't even exist just the day before, and Gentry was one of the first people to be told personally. Gentry agreed to allowing the Bass Bowl Trophy to be brought to the game, and have it presented to the winning team. But due to the late planning, nothing more. Smoley was happy to get that and reported back to the Bass Bowl committee.
The committee went to work to hype the game through emails, social media, and personal contacts.
BASS BOWL I
At the game, the trophy was hoisted on the top of a step ladder on the track on Don Owens Field (home for the Clear Lake Cardinals) for all to see. The house was packed, and many recognized the trophy as the one spoken about in the Record Bee article. Soon, all in attendance became aware they were part of something special.
It was a hard fought game, but Ishihara's Kelseyville Knights pulled away for a 34-20 victory. After the handshakes at mid-field, Bridges took the trophy off the step ladder and carried it out towards the celebratory Knights. At first, the players seemed confused at the trophy, as they never seen it before, and they knew very little about it other than what Coach Ish had told them that week. But once Bridges handed the trophy off to Coach Ish who hoisted it up into the air, every player spontaneously erupted into their own version of the "rebel yell." The team had their victory photo taken with the trophy in their center, then every player took turns having their picture taken with it, either solo, with teammates, family or friends. One player was seen kissing the bass trophy. This began a post-game tradition that lasts to this very day.
