With the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship coming this week, it seems like a good time to take stock of some AOY history. Bill Dance took the first title in 1970, getting the award off to the perfect start as bass fishing's first superstar was the first to earn what would become its most prestigious crown.
If you look at AOY by the numbers, 20 anglers have won it — 10 of them more than once. Of course, Roland Martin leads the way with nine. He was also the oldest angler to win; he was 45 in 1985. Kevin VanDam was the youngest AOY — 24 in 1992 — and his seven titles are second best to Martin.
Twelve of the AOYs have also won at least one Bassmaster Classic, strengthening their claims to being the best in the business. Three times the AOY won the title in the same season he won the Classic. Mark Davis was the first to do it in 1995. Kevin VanDam followed in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
The average age of an AOY is 36.2, and that number is rising. The last time an angler younger than that won the title was 2006 when Michael Iaconelli did it at 34. Each of the last six winners was over 40.
This year, there are only six anglers with a mathematical chance to win going into the Championship — Greg Hackney, Aaron Martens, Todd Faircloth, Jacob Powroznik, Keith Combs and Mark Davis — though it will almost certainly come down to one of the first three. The latter three trail by so many points that it will be extremely difficult to make up the deficit against the small field at Bays de Noc.
None of the six contenders is younger than 36, and if Davis prevails he would be the oldest AOY in history at nearly 51. The youngest angler with a chance to win it this year is Powroznik. He'll be 36 years and 11 days old when the last fish hits the scales at the AOY Championship.
If you break the award down by age it becomes apparent that anglers are at the peaks of their powers in their 30s. (The same is true of the Classic, by the way.) Twenty-six AOYs were in their 30s when they won; 13 were in their 40s; and just five were in their 20s. No one in his 20s has won since Tim Horton in 2000.
And, for what little it's worth, no Scorpio (born between Oct. 23 – Nov. 21) has ever won the title and none will win it this year.
Geographically, AOY has a profile, too. Oklahoma and Michigan have produced the most champions — seven each. In the case of the Wolverine State, they were all Kevin VanDam. Oklahoma had Roland Martin and Jimmy Houston at key times in their careers. Alabama and Texas are next with five AOYs.
Louisiana and Virginia have never produced an AOY, but that would change if Hackney (Louisiana) or Powroznik (Virginia) pull it off.