In some sports, to be in the top twenty-five might seem like a high finish and not the number that an athlete would set his or her sights on. In the sport of professional bass fishing, the top twenty-five is a very coveted number.
Bethel University standout athlete, Cody Huff, found himself finishing at number twenty-five in the world this past Sunday as he walked across the stage at the world’s biggest bass fishing event: The Bassmasters Classic.
Known as one of America’s top collegiate anglers, “Huff has helped to preserve a legacy at Bethel University,” said Head Bass Fishing Coach Garry Mason of Springville. “Watching Cody make the cut to the top twenty-five and the final day of the Bassmasters Classic has been a dream come true for all of us here at Bethel,” said Mason.
The Bassmasters Classic Championship, which is known by most anglers in America and around the globe as the world series of professional bass fishing, only takes twenty-five anglers into the final day of the championship. To be in that top twenty-five of the world’s greatest professional bass anglers is, for most fishermen, a dream come true.
Such is the story of Bethel University’s own Cody Huff. After winning the College Classic Bracket Series on Watts Bar Lake near Spring City, TN last August, Cody found himself headed to the 2020 Bassmasters Classic as the only college angler to be competing for the world championship against the nation’s top fifty-two bass anglers.
Thousands of college anglers and even more adult bass fishing enthusiasts plus hundreds of pro anglers attempt to make it to the Classic for a chance to win the title “Bassmasters Champion” each year.
Cody Huff’s journey to get to the Classic has been epic, to say the least. He and his Bethel Bass Fishing Team have won four national championships, School of the Year, Team of the Year, plus the Classic Bracket Series – all in the past two years alone.
Known as one of America’s top collegiate anglers, “Huff has helped to preserve a legacy at Bethel University,” said Head Bass Fishing Coach Garry Mason of Springville. “Watching Cody make the cut to the top twenty-five and the final day of the Bassmasters Classic has been a dream come true for all of us here at Bethel,” said Mason.
To finish as one of the top twenty-five anglers in the Classic is very special but also life-changing as many careers in the bass fishing industry has been launched from just such a feat. Cody now finds himself in a position to live an even larger dream – becoming a full-time professional bass angler after graduation this spring from Bethel University.
Photo provided by Garry Mason.