Broken wrist ends Jordon’s Elite season

A broken wrist will force Kelly Jordon to miss the remainder of the 2015 Bassmaster Elite Series.

Kelly Jordon knows it would sound cooler if he could say he broke his left wrist jumping out of an airplane or operating heavy machinery.

As a man who works hard and plays hard, he wishes his story was a little more exciting.

But the injury that will force him to miss the remainder of the 2015 Bassmaster Elite Series actually happened during a simple fall in his driveway.

“I was just dragging a limb and it broke off,” said Jordon, who lives in Flint, Texas. “I’ve got a cement driveway that’s sloped, and I fell down and hit where it kind of flattens out.

“I wish it was a better story, but that’s how it happened.”

The fall happened last Thursday, but Jordon didn’t see a doctor and learn the wrist was actually broken until Monday.

He was scheduled for surgery Wednesday morning, and he expected to have screws and a plate inserted into the wrist to help with the healing process. At least six weeks of healing and rehab will follow, meaning he’ll miss the final three regular-season Elite Series events on the St. Lawrence River, Chesapeake Bay and Lake St. Clair.

Since Jordon is in 64th place in the Angler of the Year standings after five tournaments, he also would have had a decent chance to qualify for September’s Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. Only the top 50 anglers in the final standings qualify for the event.

“It’s really a downer,” said Jordon, who finished 47th or higher in three straight events this year at Lake Guntersville, the Sacramento River and Lake Havasu. “If I had fallen on dirt, it wouldn’t have done anything. But there’s no give in cement.

“Let that be a lesson to all of the kids who ride bikes on cement: Wear a helmet.”

Jordon, who said his official injury is a distal radius fracture, was looking forward to each of the final three events.

“I was really excited about Chesapeake bay, because I enjoy fishing those kinds of tidal fisheries,” said Jordon, who has career earnings of more than $1.5 million with B.A.S.S. “Thousand Islands is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, and I love Lake St. Clair.

“I’m really devastated, because I was looking at a strong finish for the year to make the Classic.”

With nine Classic appearances, four victories and 32 top 10 finishes on the B.A.S.S. circuit, Jordon said he has no plans to stop fishing anytime soon. He said he hopes to be 100 percent by the end of the year, and he’ll be applying for a hardship waiver to fish next year’s Elite Series.

“Any chance of me making the Classic is shot to pieces – kind of like my wrist,” Jordon said. “I was very depressed all day Monday when I found out it was actually broken.

“But to use Terry Scroggins’ line: It is what it is.”