PALMER, Tenn. — David Lowrie just wants to be the best doorman in history.
“I’m not a tournament fisherman,” said the new youth director for the Tennessee B.A.S.S. Nation. “I open doors for people. I make opportunities possible for folks who want to be tournament fishermen.
“If I die having been the best doorman for those people, then I’ve done what I was supposed to do.”
Lowrie was just elected youth director last month, but he’s come into the role with lots of door-opening already done. When his son, Hank, told him he wanted to fish a bass tournament — when the young Lowrie was only 6 — David said he would figure it out.
“I had always fished, but I’d never competed,” Lowrie said. “So I had to learn about tournaments, I started fishing them with my son, and then I got involved.”
It wasn’t long before Lowrie was so involved that he became district director of the National Bass Fishing Trail (NBT). A few years later, in 2011, he became a member of the national board of directors for NBFT, then junior national director. And now he’s the national sponsorship director.
“I got involved because I wanted my kid to get to scratch for scholarship money,” Lowrie said. “I started working to make the trail the best possible one and give him the best platform.”
Now, Hank Lowrie is 19 and out of high school.
“I started doing this for Hank,” Lowrie said. “Now that he’s graduated, it’s grown. It’s about a whole lot of kids.”
Lowrie finds it hard to talk about himself. He would much rather tell the story of each individual angler in the high school club he coaches, or the kids a town over who are trying to set up a club, or the parents of the kids on the bass team who are giving up their time to raise funds for the teens.
“It’s not about me at all,” Lowrie said. “I want these kids to have an opportunity. I want the boat captains to be happy. I want to help get these kids on college teams. I just want to do it well.”
Lowrie works full-time for the Tennessee state government, as he has done since he left the Army in 1991. Now, in addition to his new role as the youth director, he’s coach of the high school bass team, chairman of the Grundy County High School Sports Hall of Fame, reunion chairman for the Army veterans in the area, president of the booster club and sponsorship director for the NBFT.
“It’s a small community,” Lowrie said, humbly. “We’ve all got to pitch in.”
Even though Lowrie is overcommitted by some people’s standards, Hank Weldon, B.A.S.S. youth director, recommended Lowrie for the position.
“We really appreciate David stepping up to work with the youth of Tennessee,” said Weldon. “He already has a successful high school team trail and has been instrumental in shaping the high school scene in eastern Tennessee. We’re lucky to have him.”
Lowrie has a goal in mind for his new role — to grow Tennessee’s high school numbers higher than Alabama’s.
“Tennessee is the second-biggest high school program, second only to Alabama,” Lowrie said. “I want to be as good as or better than Alabama. It’s about brainstorming, networking and working with a ton of folks to get better. We’re learning from the Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation, and we’re going to scratch and claw to grow from that experience. I’m never satisfied — always happy, but never satisfied. If you’re not improving, you’re going backward. And I want us to improve.”
One of Lowrie’s first orders of business was to create a committee of people who have been working with Tennessee high school anglers for years.
“I want their suggestions and their criticism,” Lowrie said. “That’s how you get better. And I want Tennessee to be the best it can be.”
Tennessee’s first B.A.S.S. event since Lowrie became youth director is the biggest of the year — the Costa Bassmaster High School National Championship and Junior Championship, Aug. 2-6, on Kentucky Lake in Paris, Tenn.
To keep up with Lowrie’s efforts with the Tennessee B.A.S.S. Nation High School program, follow the group on Facebook at www.facebook.com/tbnyouth.
