Jason Christie’s oldest daughter Ali graduates from Fort Gibson High School tonight in Oklahoma. The only problem is Christie is in Lufkin, Texas, currently sitting in fifth place at Toyota Texas Fest where he’ll be fishing on Championship Sunday.
“I really wanted to get back for it,” Christie said. And he went to extraordinary efforts to get there. Christie chartered a private plane to hustle back to Oklahoma Friday afternoon. But his best laid plans fell apart when a big storm front cropped up in Oklahoma today and grounded the plane.
“I don’t mind flying that much, but this just seemed too dangerous. Particularly in a small plane,” he said. “As a dad, it really hurts to miss it.”
Instead Christie will be watching the graduation this evening online.
Ali has some of her father’s basketball talent and has signed to play college ball at Oklahoma Christian.
In the photo above that’s Christie with his family after winning the Bassmaster Elite on Arkansas’ Lake Dardanelle in May 2014. His oldest daughter Ali is on the right. And that’s his wife Amy along with daughters Ana and Jaslyn.