Patrick Walters has two left feet.
Need proof?
Just ask the 24-year-old Summerville, S.C., resident about an excursion he took with a group of friends a few summers ago when they boated out of Charleston to Georgetown, about 40 or so miles up the Palmetto State coastline.
The crew was cutting up some, as young 20-somethings sometimes do, while they made their way up the Intracoastal Waterway. When they reached Georgetown, they soon found themselves in a nightclub partying into the late hours.
It was a fairly lively place and there were some good tunes on the sound system. A few more adult beverages were consumed, and before long, the friends were on the dance floor. That included Walters, who as he readily admits, won’t be mistaken for Fred Astaire anytime soon.
But the music called to him, and even though he’s not sure which song worked its magic, he finally decided to break out his “best” dance moves.
“We all call it dancing, but nobody knows what I’m doing out there,” Walters said, with a big laugh. “I’m just kind of out there moving around. There was some country playing and some rap going, and it was all just mixing around. Before long, I got to pop, lock and dropping, and nothing good at all was happening with that.
“I thought we were loosening up, but I tightened up. I dropped it low and something popped in my knee.”
Walking back to the hotel a while later, Walters learned that dancing can be a contact sport.
“I woke up the next morning, and I felt like I couldn’t walk,” he said. “Once the numbness (in my head) from the night before was gone, I’m like ‘Whoa, something is wrong with my left knee.’ We’re making our way back on the boat, and it just wasn’t feeling right. When it didn’t get any better, I went to the doctor.
“She asked me what I had been doing and when I told her, she turned purple she laughed so hard,” Walters said, choking back his own laughs. “I had to ice that thing for a few days and she gave me something to take the swelling down. It was about a week before it was back to normal.
“I never thought I would get wounded on the battlefield known as the dance floor.”
Walters isn’t going to have a guest turn on Dancing with the Stars anytime soon, but no matter — he’s busting a move to stardom of another kind during his maiden season on the Bassmaster Elite Series.
Walters currently leads the standings in both the 2019 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year and Rookie of the Year races. He has two Top 10 finishes in the five Elite Series events he’s fished — he was fourth on the St. John’s River in Florida and seventh at Winyah Bay and the aforementioned Georgetown. His worst showing in five Elite tournaments this year was a 29th-place finish at Lake Fork in the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest back in early May.
That type of consistency has shined a spotlight squarely on a young man who certainly doesn’t go out of his way to seek attention, despite the strained dance moves now and again. Walters said he’s a “Plain Jane kind of guy, who likes to keep things neutral.”
And still, in a world that seems to increasingly applaud the individual, Walters’ status-quo tastes may come off as a bit strange today.
Rather than experimental this or underground that, Walters listens to Top 40 music, and when asked who’s the most “out there” artist he enjoys, he lists the very mainstream Bob Seger. Walters’ favorite meal is steak, and he likes it served best at a national chain restaurant. When Walters was growing up, his family had a Suburban in the driveway of their Summerville home and they piled into it for hunting trips, ball practices and church on Sundays.
If anything, Walters is a practical man, and it showed when he elected to attend the nearby University of South Carolina, where he double majored in business management and marketing. The plan was, Walters said, for his education to help advance his eventual career as a pro bass angler. If he failed to become that, he figured those were the right degrees to earn to help get a job in an industry-related field.
But Walters is far from failing in his rookie season as an Elite angler. He’s excelling, which has made for an interesting few months, he said.
“I’ve never wanted too much attention,” he said. “I never wanted to be the guy that everyone is looking at saying, ‘Who’s that?’ I’ve wanted to come out of the blue and surprise everybody … I like being the dark horse, but no complaints on how things are going so far.”
Walters’ credits his parents and his two older sisters with giving him the support that make him comfortable in his own skin.
“I’m a normal guy,” Walters said. “I’m not worried about what anyone else is doing. I’m not flashy. That’s how I take things in general, and with fishing, for sure. This is our job. You tuck your shirt in, strap your boots on, put your hardhat on and go to work.
“That’s how I’m taking it this year,” he said. “I’m just going to work.”
People are taking note, too. They see Walters’ work ethic and the determination, but they also see the guy who claims to have “never met a stranger” and the sincerity that he brings to the tour.
Showing sensibility that belies his age, Walters isn’t necessarily surprised by the attention he’s getting from fans and media, either.
“It’s taken a while to get used to,” he said. “The hardest part is finding the balance between having more interviews and requests on your schedule, and still finding time to focus on fishing. But you can’t complain. This is what you dream about for years, and you know it’s coming.
“You can’t pose and be anybody else. I let people see me. I can be an introvert, but I can be the life of the party too.”
Dancefloors, and doctor’s offices across America, take note!