Lake Seminole sage and National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame member Jack Wingate talked Wednesday to Bainbridge Lions Club members about the beginning of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS) tournament trail and a couple of very famous former athletes he met while serving in the U.S. Navy.

“The BASS organization was begun at a meeting in the dining room of my lunker lodge restaurant at Lake Seminole,” Wingate said. “Former late Georgia Governor Marvin Griffin and other area fishing enthusiasts were also there.”

Wingate said he had the honor of meeting two of the most famous college football players of all time, the Army Cadets All-American running back duo of Felix “Doc” Blanchard and Glen Davis, known in their playing days as Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside.

“I was serving aboard the USS Norwood and working on sonar sound, which was part of anti submarine warfare,” Wingate said. “We came ashore to attend the War College at Newport, Rhodes Island. Every military man in all branches of service had to go to the college. We had to review what the Army was doing and they had to review what we were doing. It happened that Blanchard and Davis were the ones reviewing our solar sound research.

“They were the nicest two guys you would ever want to meet. They were just down to earth people.”