Bill Dance | How to Build a Fishing TV Empire Without a Big Budget | Tom Rowland Podcast Ep. 881

Tom Rowland Podcast — Episode 881: Bill Dance

Bill Dance on being “blessed that I had a daddy and a grandaddy” who taught him to fish, riding the city bus with worms in his pocket, building the longest-running fishing show by scripting, shooting and editing it all himself, the bloopers one mom called “the best babysitter,” and watching Johnny Morris grow Bass Pro from the back of his daddy’s store.

00:00 · Cold Open

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From The Seychelles to The Keys, I trust Nikon binoculars to find fish fast. Visit nikonusa.com and upgrade your line of sight. I thought I was covered, but I wasn't. HH Insurance showed me that my old policy did not cover The Bahamas or nighttime navigation, two major gaps that could have cost me a lot. Jake and Landon fixed it fast. They know charter policies better than anyone I've ever worked with. Call (727) 498-5551 or visit hhinsgroup.com and tell them Tom Rowland sent you. Trusted enough to go with me to The Seychelles, my Danco pliers are a staple in my kit. Check out dancopliers.com and build yours today. What's going on, everybody? This is the Tom Rowland podcast brought to you by StarBright. You know, we are on number 881. When I say that, I can't even believe it because I started this podcast as just like a little a little side project, just a hobby. Thought podcasting was cool. I thought, man, there's some people out there that I would like to talk to and there's some cert certainly some people out there that I would like to get their stories and have them talk to me in a in a situation to where we're not looking at our phones. We're just sitting down and having a conversation. Those times in today's world are few and far between. And this podcast has allowed me to sit down with some some of the most interesting people in fishing. Some of my heroes, some of my mentors, and some people, honestly, that I never thought I was gonna get time with. We did a Ask Me Anything podcast a few weeks ago. And in that, I put out on the text line, which is area code (305) 930-7346. You can always ask me any kind of questions that you want there, and a lot of people text in. Had a number of questions about which have been my favorite episodes. And I don't really have a favorite episode because I have enjoyed all of them. But I do have some that stand out as some of the most memorable ones. Some of the ones that gave me the most insight into a person and some of the ones that were maybe more memorable than others. And one of them is the one we're gonna go over today. So what I thought we would do over the next couple of weeks is a series of these podcasts that have either been some of the most memorable ones or some of the most impactful to me, some of the ones that I've got I received the most feedback on, both positive and negative, because not all of them have been popular, by the way. But I thought in the next couple of weeks, we would just kind of bring back some of the ones that are the most memorable or maybe the ones that maybe fell through the cracks. We have a lot of new listeners on the podcast and maybe going back from number 881 back to number 50. Maybe maybe you haven't had the opportunity to do that, so I'm going to kinda curate these for you. These are some of my favorite ones, and we're gonna start today with a trip that I made over to Collierville, Tennessee. Collierville, Tennessee is also the home of Bill Dance. Bill Dance, if if you know fishing, you know Bill Dance. He is the person that's been on TV the longest. He's everybody's favorite fisherman, and, what an honor it was. I called him up to ask him to do this podcast, and he agreed. No problem. We sat down in his studio right where you see him film all his shows, and I was able to really talk to Bill in a way that I don't get to talk to him at sports shows or any other place that I that I happen to run into to Bill. We were able to sit down, and I was able to get his story from start to finish, how he started, and what it takes to be the legendary angler, Bill Dance. And I will tell you this before we get into this podcast that it didn't happen by accident. It didn't happen by accident at all. Bill Dance is a product of hard work and determination, and you're gonna find out exactly hard how hard he had to work to get to where he is today. So it's a real pleasure to bring back this episode with none other than the legendary Bill Dance. I hope you enjoy it. I'm sitting down here with Bill Dance, the legend of all time. And, just wanna say it's a real honor to to sit down. I wanna appreciate I wanna thank you for, spending a little time with me.

05:16 · “I Was Lucky, Wasn’t I?”

Bill Dance: It's always a pleasure to be with you, Tom.

Tom Rowland: Well, thank you. So I'm gonna read something right now, and I wanna get your reaction to it. Alright. 2,000 episodes, 36 videos, 12 educational tapes, four blooper videos, seven books, IGFA Hall of Fame, thousands of newspaper articles, 23 national bass titles, eight time qualifier for the Bassmaster Classic out of nine times, three times bass angler of the year. You won seven of the first 17 events you ever entered, and you're also credited for catching the first bass in BASS history.

Bill Dance: I did all that. I don't know. Did you? Who told you all that?

Tom Rowland: It says it on your website. And so what I'm wondering

Bill Dance: I was lucky, wasn't I?

Tom Rowland: Yeah. Get well, I don't know. I don't think you can be quite that lucky. If somebody had told you that you were gonna do all that Whoo. Would you have believed them?

Bill Dance: No. You know, I just I came along at the right time, and I was blessed that I had a daddy and a granddaddy that, taught me a lot about this great sport. And, you know, I credit my granddaddy. My daddy my daddy was, more of a he was a doctor. My granddaddy doctor. They my father was, more of a hunter. Mhmm. He shot a lot of skeet and trap. And he fished a lot, but nothing like he he hunted morning, fish. But my grandfather was more of a fisherman.

Tom Rowland: Yeah.

06:52 · Growing Up Fishing Around Lynchburg

Bill Dance: And, I learned a lot about fishing from my grand grandfather, but I learned a lot about, anatomy. He taught me about the importance of sight. He taught me a lot about the importance of hearing and, the anatomy of a fish, which helped me a lot, through my career.

Tom Rowland: Now where was this? Did you grow up in Memphis?

Bill Dance: Well, I spent I was born in Memphis. Mhmm. And I spent a lot of time in Memphis, but I spent a lot of time in Middle Tennessee in Moore County, Lynchburg.

Tom Rowland: Okay.

Bill Dance: That's the home of Jack Daniels, a dry county. But I spent a lot of time in Lynchburg on Mulberry Creek. And, I love moving water. Mhmm. And I still do today. I love to fish moving water.

Tom Rowland: Yeah.

Bill Dance: And, I grew up fishing, that type of fishing. Of course, I fish ponds and things as I, whenever I could. But living in Memphis, I was kinda limited until I got a little bit older

Tom Rowland: Yeah.

Bill Dance: Where I could get a car or I rode the city bus, with worms in my pocket. Real worms? Yeah. Yeah. Real worms.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. It's before plastic.

Bill Dance: Yeah. I'd wrap them up in a bag or something or a can, and I'd ride the city bus to, local, city parks that had a lake. And but I always love to go to to Lynchburg. And then at the creek, my grandmother could walk out on her front porch and holler, Billy. She's calling me Billy when I was little. And, or she'd take a pan and beat it with a spoon. And I could hear it because it within it was in distance hearing distance of the front porch. And and I'd run back to the house. That's how close the creek was. Yeah. So I'd fish up and down the creek.

Tom Rowland: But What kind of fish would you catch in that little creek?

Bill Dance: It well, we had, when the creek got muddy, I'd fish for catfish. And it was some kind of a theory. You know, when the creek got muddy, that's time to catch catfish. But it, it had we called them black perch. Mhmm. But it was and they ran big back then. It was a rock bass, red eyed Right. And we had small mouth Mhmm. And we had large mouth. Mhmm. And we had hog nosed sucker. We had, beautiful sunfish. Just, just big beautiful sunfish.

Tom Rowland: Yeah.

Bill Dance: So we had a a mix of fish in the creek. But the smallmouth and the largemouth and the

Tom Rowland: the red eye black perch. What we called a red eye when I grew up. That was one of my favorite fish to fish for. And we I fished with my dad. We fished, a lot in the in the ponds and and lakes, but we also fished in the moving water. And that's what I preferred.

Bill Dance: Oh, I love that. And that

Tom Rowland: I think that that really kind of helped me to get to my trout fishing background was because I had a background of fishing in these muddy muddy creeks for those rock bass and stuff like that. But later, then I'm fishing in the clear water, and and that's man, it was close to my heart. I really love that. So you wouldn't have believed it if somebody had told you that you would've you would've had a career in fishing when you were a kid?

09:56 · Was There Even a Fishing Industry?

Bill Dance: Well, you know, I always wanted it. That's a career I always wanted. I I I somehow, I I wanted to, get into that industry. Mhmm. I mean, I I talked to

Tom Rowland: Well, wait wait a minute. Was there even an industry at this time?

Bill Dance: Well, yeah. There was an industry. You know?

Tom Rowland: I mean, we're we're talking about what year?

Bill Dance: Well, not when I was young like that, no. I didn't even know about an industry. But, but as I got older, the there was an industry. Mhmm. You know? Like, somebody somebody sold somebody sold fishing lures

Tom Rowland: Okay.

Bill Dance: And somebody made fishing lures Mhmm. And somebody made rods and somebody made reels.

Tom Rowland: Right.

Bill Dance: And, I'd I'd dreamed of that. I'd like to kinda do that. And, you know, it would come and go. Mhmm. And I'd see these lures and magazines. It was a field in stream. There was a sports field. Mhmm. And there was a guy by the name of Jason Lucas. Mhmm. And I'd read his articles. And I'd I'd think about, boy, how how did they make those lures? I said, boy, that'd be a neat thing to do. And then as time passed, you know, I got older and older. And then I I started to think, boy, I'd like to do that someday. And I might be jumping the jumping the gun here. But as time passed, I was fortunate enough to play on all four corners. Not only did I get the opportunity to be a manufacturer, to work for a manufacturer, to sell for a manufacturer, to promote for a manufacturer. I got to do all of those things. And I turned a I turned a hobby into a profession.

Tom Rowland: Pardon? When you all four of those corners within a span of how many years did you Oh, it

Bill Dance: was well, it's one, go we're jumping now Mhmm. Through, many years. But, I got, I got an opportunity to, as a result of the fishing tournaments of doing exceptionally well. Mhmm. The first three tournaments, I placed second. I was a bridesmaid. Boom. Boom. Boom. In the first three tournaments. And the next year, boom. Boom. Boom. I won the next three.

Tom Rowland: Okay.

Bill Dance: And then the following two weeks after I won the next three, I had three major lure companies contact me. I had Jim Bagley Mhmm. Who made the balsa baits in Winter Haven, Florida call me. Mhmm. I had Nick Cream, the inventor of the plastic worms, contact me. And I had Head and Lure Company in Dowalgic, Michigan, the the old one of the oldest lure companies call me, which I just was absolutely eating up. They made the lucky 13 Mhmm. And all the great baits, the old timey baits. And I thought, golly. Head and Lure Company calling me. The Nick Cream, the inventor of the plastic worm calling me. Mhmm. And then Jim Bagley, you know, the inventor of the balsamates. And I couldn't believe it. And they all wanted to talk to me. Mhmm. And the thing that kinda impressed me, Ken White, the national sales manager for Cream Lure Company, calling me and saying, mister Kreme and miss Kreme, Nick and Cosma Kreme would like for you and your wife to fly to Tyler, Texas, all expenses paid, and spend the weekend with them. And that kinda impressed me.

Tom Rowland: Yeah.

Bill Dance: And 50 of the fish I was catching at that time were on plastic worms.

Tom Rowland: Right.

Bill Dance: And so Diane and I packed up, went to the Memphis Airport, and flew to Shreveport. Mhmm. And Ken White picked us up, and we drove or he drove us down to Tyler. And we stayed with, Nick and Cosmo, and Diane fell in love with Cosmo. She was just the sweetest little lady. Yeah. And we stayed at their home. And Nick said, Bill, here's what I'd like to do. I'd like to furnish you a vehicle. I'd like to double your salary. And I'm saying, it who who is he talking to? And he was a wonderful sweet man. I would like for you to fish to hire you to fish with national distributors and show them how to fish our products. Uh-huh. And do national promotions. And I said, thank you. I said, my dream. That's my dream. I'd love to do that. And, I went to work for Nick. Mhmm. It was just a drink company.

Tom Rowland: Just tell me just just paint the picture of this of of what year is this?

Bill Dance: This was in the late sixties. Okay. So late sixties. Or It Are there Like, like, '69, 70 running that.

Tom Rowland: Are there first of all, is BASS does it exist yet?

Bill Dance: Oh, yeah. Because because I had won. I was in the tournament. I had three seconds and then three first.

Tom Rowland: But in the BASS tournaments. Right. Okay. So are there other people that are making a a living doing fishing at all? No. No. Or or does it a sponsorship like this? Had you ever heard of anyone doing something like this?

15:09 · Field Testing and Selling Worms

Bill Dance: Well, at that time, I had contacted Strand Mhmm. The fishing line people. Yeah. And a guy by the name of McCarron. And, I said, I'd like to be a field tester. And he said, what's a field tester?

Tom Rowland: You knew that from Lynchburg.

Bill Dance: Yeah. That used to be

Tom Rowland: the cap they had. Field the whiskey field tester. Field tester.

Bill Dance: And I said, I wanna be a a field promotional tester, and I could get free fishing line. Mhmm. And he said, well, I don't know what that is, but, if that's what you wanna be, consider yourself be our first field tester. K. And, so I became a field tester. And he said, I've never heard of a field tester. I don't know what they are. But, if that's what you wanna be, a field tester, you're our field tester. And I said, okay. So I that kinda kick started that. And then, you know, starting to work for for Nick because there wasn't any competition there because Nick didn't make fishing line. Mhmm. And, I did that for a couple of years traveling. Mhmm. All expenses paid. Could go fishing wherever I wanted to. I could take buyers, from big discount. The big discount chains weren't really that big. They were growing at that time. Right. The only place you could really buy tackle back in those early days was hardware stores. Yeah. But but the discount change was starting to jump up. Globe, Woolco, then you probably don't remember.

Tom Rowland: Woolworths. I remember Woolworths used to sell tackle.

Bill Dance: And then Woolco came behind that. And then, Oshman, the big Oshman chains down through Texas. Well, I would take it to buyers fishing and showing them how to fish. And Nick came with a, a slip sinker pack. Consisted of a little a half a dozen slip sinkers. Mhmm. Six or eight war of, hooks. Right. And we use a spro hook then. And we've talked about why that spro hook was so important. It had a wide gap and the importance of that. And we put six chimney gal worms in there. That was the worm. Mhmm. That was a seven inch worm. And we sold so many of those doggone worms, the chimney gal pack. Then we came with the chimney gal six inch. We had the chimney gal seven and a quarter inch. Then we came with the big 10 inch. Yeah. The monster pack. And we went everywhere. We'd have promotions, and we'd sell that worm.

Tom Rowland: But anyway So you're selling all of these worms through just personal appearances and At at these stores, at the

Bill Dance: Oshman chain, at the Woolco chain, at

Tom Rowland: the wherever. So this is still going hand in hand with working with cream?

Bill Dance: Yeah. I was working with cream. And I I'd go to Toledo Bend. Mhmm. And I would invite these buyers in and riders in from Shreveport, from Tyler, Texas, from the Houston, big big name riders. And they would come in, and I'd fish them for a couple of days and show them how to rig the bait and how to fish the bait. Mhmm. And I'd go down and, check-in, and I stay down there for a week or two. Mhmm. And I'd have the these noted riders come in. Right. Like I said, be a rider from, Reeves from the Shreveport Times. I can't even remember all the writers. And it'd be a big writer from Houston. Post would come in, and it'd be a writer from the Dallas Times would Dallas, Morning News would come in. Mhmm. And And I'd have them all programmed. Mhmm. You know, I'd have him Monday, and I'd have him Tuesday, and I'd have him Wednesday, and I'd have him Thursday. And they'd meet me, or I'd meet them at a certain location, the trading post in Hemp Hill, Texas. Uh-huh. And we'd finish to lead a bend. And then it maybe it'd be I'd be on Smith Lake. Yeah. And I'd have a meet me at Jasper at the Holiday Inn. And then then they'd be in Ross Barnett. I'd meet them at the Holiday Inn in Jackson, Mississippi. Mhmm. And I'd fish with a lot of riders Yeah. And talking about the bait and how to fish the bait. And this was kind of a dream come true. I was fishing a lot, and I was fishing with people. And I was showing them and educating them on Right. How to fish a slip, sink, or worm, and how to worm fish.

Tom Rowland: And Pretty much no one else was doing anything else.

19:38 · Getting the Chance to Do Television

Bill Dance: Doing it back in those days. Right. And, then I continued to fish the tournaments. And thank the good lord I was doing well in the tournaments. Mhmm. And I was getting a lot of publicity from these writers that I was entertaining, and Kareem was getting a lot of publicity. And I did that, Tom, for a couple of years. And then one day, I got the idea. I said, you know, if I can do this for Tom I mean, for for Nick, I ought to be able to do it for myself. So I went and sat down with Nick. And I said, Nick and he he kinda laughed. And he said he put his hand on my shoulder, and he said, I knew this day would come. And he said I said, you know, I wanna try this. I I wanna do this on my own.

Tom Rowland: Mhmm.

Bill Dance: And he said, you see that door right there? And I went, oh, goodness. And he said he he said, that door swings both ways. He said, you go try it. And if it doesn't work out, you come back.

Tom Rowland: Uh-huh.

Bill Dance: And he got up and he hugged my neck, and I took off. And a a good buddy of mine, Charles Spence Mhmm. That's when Charles and I started, basically, Strike King Lure Company in that that span of time. And, that riders were still contacting me and wanting me to go fishing, and we were trying to start up the lure company, and and Charles was always wanting to go on these rider trips. Mhmm. And the riders would say, well, Charles, we don't need you to go on the trip. We need I need Bill. And I could see Charles' feelings it was hurting Charles' feelings, and then I felt horrible about it. And, and I was leaving Charles there to do all the work, and here I'm out fishing. And here I'm going to the tournaments, And I could say this wasn't gonna work. Mhmm. And finally, I just said, look, Charles. You take the company and you run with it. And I was just gonna continue fishing in tournaments, and I was gonna do something else because it just it wasn't working out. And it I could see some animosity there, and and I didn't wanna destroy a friendship between Charlie and I and I. So I had a conversation with Cotton Cordell over in Little Rock. And Cotton said, well, I tell you what your fishing's really cut in half now, and you're in the lure business. And I said, no. I'm not in the lure business. He said, what are you doing? And I said, well, I'm just fishing with some riders and looking around.

Tom Rowland: Mhmm.

Bill Dance: He said, why don't you look around over here in Hot Springs Monday morning? And I said, what do you mean? He said, I wanna talk to you. So I drove to Hot Springs that next Monday, and Cotton said, I'll tell you what I wanna do. I wanna give you a vehicle. I wanna double your salary, kinda like what Nick said.

Tom Rowland: Yeah.

Bill Dance: And I didn't kinda wanna go back to Nick because, there were some personal reasons. And Nick was kind of thinking about they didn't his children were kinda moving up, and so I I didn't go back to Nick. And I went to work for Cotton. Mhmm. And Cotton had offered me double the salary in a vehicle, and I kinda started doing the same thing for Cotton. And Cotton came to him, and he said, look. After about, a year, he said doing the same thing. He said, we need a television show. And I said, okay. I think that's good. I've got the perfect guy to do it.

Tom Rowland: So this is 1968?

Bill Dance: And now this was around that same time, '70, around 70. He said, you got the perfect guy for us to do it. And I said, I sure do. And this guy, we were rooming together, fishing in tournaments together, and he was I wouldn't be doing TV today if it wasn't for this guy. And he said, who's that? And I said, Jerry MacInnes.

Tom Rowland: Okay.

Bill Dance: And he said, McInnis? And I said, yep. Jerry and I have been traveling together. I've been helping Jerry shoot stuff, and Jerry's taught me a lot about, television. And and Jerry is your man. And he says, well, I've got a different idea. And I said, what what's that cotton? And I love cotton. Cotton Cordell made the hot spot and the red fin and a lot of great baits. And I love him like a daddy. He said, no. I've got a better guy. And I said, okay. Who's that? And he said, you. And I said, me? I said, god. Me on TV is like pouring perfume on a pig. I I tell you what, I I can't even spell television. I said, I can't man, you gotta be crazy. He said, nope. I want you to do it. And I said, Cotton, I I can't do a TV show. I don't know anything. He said, yep. Gerry's taught you a lot about it. And so I told Jerry, I said, Cotton wants me to do a TV show, Jerry. He says, do it. You can do it.

Tom Rowland: Now did Jerry already have his show going out? Yeah.

Bill Dance: Jerry had a show going too. And and I said, you you think I can do it? And Jerry said, yeah. You sure you can do it? So Cotton bought me a camera just like the one I've been shooting a little bit with a Scoop It. Mhmm. Canon Scoop It. It's very simple. And, so I went to a local TV station, and I knew the editor, and he showed me how to edit.

Tom Rowland: And Linear editing back then. Uh-huh. Linear editing. Like, you're cutting and

Bill Dance: Yeah. It was cutting and pasting and all.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. And

Bill Dance: he showed me basically how to do it. So I went to our CBS affiliate. Went to the program director, and I said, I'd like to do a local fishing show for your network your your your local station. Mhmm. And he said, no. I just don't think, I said I said, well, you did get about Gattis sponsored by Liberty Mutual. Mhmm. And he said, yeah. But, we we just don't think there's a market for a local show. And I went and I got I got really discouraged. Then I went to Al Michaels at the NBC affiliate. And I walked in, big old tall guy and big had a I walked in his office and little big burrow wallet desk sitting there, and he got up. Can I help you? And I said, yes, sir. Brooks Brothers suit.

Tom Rowland: Uh-huh.

Bill Dance: About a $400 tie on. And I I said, I had a pair of blue jeans, and it didn't look too appealing. But I said, mister Grady, I'd like to talk to you about the possibility of doing a local fishing show. What? And I said, a local fishing show. Oh, what is that? And I said and I told him my format and how I want to do it. And he said, no. Uh-uh. I don't think that's something that would no. We're not interested in anything like that. And I said, wait a minute. Let me tell you what I think it created a lot of local appeal. And so I went home and I was really discouraged.

Tom Rowland: Yeah.

Bill Dance: And I said, this this ain't gonna work. This I I can't do this. Diane said, what did I tell you about can't? And I said, what? She said, what did I tell you about the word can't? And I said she said, I've told you that word, get it out of your vocabulary. And she's so I always said and I said, well, three doesn't want it. Five doesn't want it. And she said, isn't ABC sports minded? I said, yeah. I think. She said, they're always talking about sports entertainment on ABC. Why don't you go to ABC? I said, they probably don't what'd I say? I said, she's kinda five feet tall. She's I mean, dynamite comes in small packages. She's heard that expression. I said, I'll go save in the morning. She said, what about this afternoon? Yeah. Well, I'll let me go in the morning. So I went over there, and I got over there about eleven. I remember it was a little bit after eleven, and the switchboard operator, I never forget her. Her name was Elizabeth. And I saw saw it on her little name, but I walked up and I said, Elizabeth? She said, yes. That's me. I said, who is your program director? She said, Lance Russell. And I said, is he in? She said, no. He went to lunch, but he'll be back by two if you'd like to come back. And I said, no, ma'am. I'll just wait. And she said, well, it's just a little bit after eleven. That's that'll be a pretty good I said, that's fine. I'll wait. But I wanna be here when he comes back. She says, well, okay. So I just went over and sat

28:33 · Building the Show From Nothing

Tom Rowland: down. Uh-huh.

Bill Dance: And a little bit later, she said, would you like something to drink? And, I said, no, ma'am. I'm fine. So So she said, well, I'm gonna get me a Coca Cola. If you want one, I'll get you one. I said, no, ma'am. She said, well, I'm getting you one. So she and I became good buddies. So she went and got one, got me one. And she said, what do you do? I said, well, I told her. Then she told me she liked to fish, and we kept struck up a conversation. And, about ten minutes of one, she walked over and she said, guess what? Mister Russell came up the back power escape Mhmm. Back steps. He's here. And, he's ready to see you. I said, well, great. And she said, just go right on up the steps. I'll never get that green carpet. And I bounced up those steps, and I went down the hall. And there was a lady standing there, and she said, there's his office. And I walked in, and he stood up. And his hands he pat his hands like that. He walked around the end of his desk, and he stuck his hand out. And he said, Bill Dance. And I said, mister Russell. He said, call me Lance. Have a seat, Bill. And he said, better than that. And he took his chair, and he pulled his chair up, Pulled my chair up close to his desk. He said, sit down. What can I help you with? And I said, I wanna do a local fishing show, and I wanna do it here on channel thirteen. And he said, you may not remember this. You know WBBJ? And I said, in Jackson, Tennessee? Channel seven. He said, that's right. I said, I've done a few shows there with Tony Lawes. He said, yeah. Tony Lawes did a local show there. He said, well, I used to do a local show there. And I said, you did? And he said, yeah. I was program director. Therefore, I came here. And I said, really? He said, yeah. He said, tell me what you got in mind. And I said, I'd like to do a local show. And I explained how I wanted to do it, how I had it formatted. And he says, okay. He said, I like the idea. When would you like to air it? And I said, Friday nights. Thursday night or Friday night for the weekend. Yep. He said, well, let me tell you what we need. We need two things. We need a pilot. I said, I don't even have a plane. He said we said he said, you got a lot to learn. Yeah. He said and then he started laughing. He said, a pilot? We need a show. And I said, okay. And I said, I can get that. And he said, we need a sponsor. And here it is, just a little bit after 01:00. Uh-huh. And I said, okay, to sponsor the event. I said, alrighty. I said, I can get the show, and let me see about the sponsor. He said, you work on that, and I'll see what I can do.

Tom Rowland: Mhmm.

Bill Dance: And I said, thank you. And he said, let's talk later in the week. And I said, fine. And he said, if you come up with something, you let me know immediately, and I will. And I shook his hand. I went out the door. I got in my truck, and I went straight down to 2526 Elvis Presley Boulevard. And I walked in a building called Fabulous Surplus City, and I walked up to a guy named Billy Woods. I said, Billy, I got a chance to put a local fishing show on channel thirteen to air Thursday night or Friday night. And I'm telling you, I can sell you lots and lots of fishing tackle. I promise you. And he said, I know you can. And I said, would you be interested would you entertain the thought of sponsoring that? He said, absolutely. I said, what are you doing in the next hour? He said, nothing. I said, will you ride with me out to channel thirteen and talk to Lance Russell? He said, I sure will. I said, come on. He got in my truck, and we drove out there, and I walked up to Elizabeth. And I said, is mister Russell still here? She said, he is. I said, would you ask him, can he see me? She said, yes. She said he said, come on up. I went up, walked in, and I said, Lance, this is Billy Woods. He's the manager of Surplus City. He said, I go in there all the time. I said, he's interested in sponsoring the show. He said, boy, you work fast. He said, let's talk. And we did a pilot. We did a a a a rough, that that night.

Tom Rowland: Where did you get the camera people?

Bill Dance: Well, I had I had I had a camera. Yeah. Cotton gave me the camera. And he said, now we need a pilot. Mhmm. I call I was so stupid. Of all people, I called Ralph Gieseau. He was a guide out of Pendleton Harbor Marina on Toledo Bend. You know, we've had a lot of mess weather and everything. I I knew I could get a show at Toledo Bend. Uh-huh. Now why didn't you shoot a local show? I don't know. But Lance didn't care. I called Ralph, and I hooked it to Toledo Bend. And, I'll never forget it. I said, Ralph, will you help me get a show? He said, absolutely. We got I got the girl, the cook. It's where I met Terry Bridge. I'll tell you this over in a minute. But, anyway, I gave the cook the camera, and I said, all you do is just hold the camera. You know, those scoopy cameras are just neat. Yeah. A baby could shoot one of them. She held the camera, and I said, get us pulling away from the dock. She said, okay. And so Ralph and I walked out and got in the boat, and we just pulled out. And she just and then we turned around, went back, got the camera. And we got out there on the lake, and one of his guides followed us out. And I said, you hold the camera and get some wide shots of us. So here's the guide. He's definitely holding the camera in his life. He shot some wide shots of us. And I said, get a couple of shots of us catching fish. Ralph knew where we were fishing the lake was. And we threw out there and caught a couple of fish. I said, you get those? He said, I got them. He gave us a camera. Ralph would shoot me catching fish, and I'd shoot Ralph catching fish. And I'll never forget that show. We were on some big fish good fish. I get this fish about five pounds up beside the boat, and I'm fighting him. And I said, Ralph. He said, let me net him. And so I'm fighting him and Ralph grabs the net and he went, I got him. And he he's got this fish about six pounds in the net and he said, well, it's a good one. And the the guide is is videoing it. Mhmm. And and I when I said get him now, I'm a bring him around the boat. And he's got this fish up six pounds. And I said, what? I said, get my fish. And he went, that's the wrong fish. He turned and knitted, and he's got a six and my five in the net. And and the guy went, I got it. I got it. Because we weren't shooting audio then. You know? And then I came back, and old Shelton was a guy that taught me how to cut and edit. Mhmm. And, I worked. And that's what I do. I'd go shoot a show, and then I'd bring it back, and I'd edit it. And then I'd I'd sketch out my show, my format. Mhmm. And then I'd come in the studio, and, it was so corny. I'd we had a a backdrop like this with two big recliners. Uh-huh. And I'd say, well, here we are at the lake, and now we're getting in the boat. Here we go up the lake.

Tom Rowland: But that's how it was done. I mean, that's how Jerry McInnis' show was done too. I mean, that you had no other

Bill Dance: It's so corny. You know? And and and I'd have a guest and maybe if you and I did a show together, and I could say, here's Tom making the first cast, and you'd say, oh, yeah. Oh, I'm getting a bite, Bill. And I said, yep. There's Tom setting the hook. Oh, ain't that fun? And you'd go, yes. Ho ho ho. We'd we'd just ad lib it

Tom Rowland: for thirty minutes. For thirty minutes. And so did this was this effective at selling product through the response?

Bill Dance: Oh, yeah. And then I'd come back, and I said, we'd have the baits or whatever it was. I said, now this is a particular bait that we were using, the old double trouble Jim bug, that, and it's a very effective bait that Cordell has come out with. And, this this bait works exceptionally well. It's not just a seasonal bait. It's a twelve month a year lure. I mean, you can fish this bait in muddy water, clear water. You can throw it up in a tree in a bass or climb a tree to hit this bait. I mean, it's a fantastic bait, folks. You guys gotta you know? But, and then, you know and they're available right now at Fabulous Surplus City. In fact, they're on sale this week. Week. You buy one, they'll give you one. Wow. Just go down there and buy it.

Tom Rowland: Well, that's incredible. So all of this happened spur of the moment, but with a lot of hard work. I mean, you obviously put it on the line. So all of this opportunity seems to me like you were just kinda living your life doing something that you like to do, and then here comes these opportunities over and over. Did this interrupt something that you were, I mean, that you were trying to do in your life?

Bill Dance: You know, the I continued to finish the tournaments, but what how this thing it it it blossomed. It got the sister station in Jackson, Mississippi Mhmm. Saw this show. And they contacted me and said the ABC affiliate in Jackson said, hey. We saw your show in Memphis. Would you be willing to do one for us? And I said, yeah. Well, it was good because the state capital was there. Mhmm. The governor was a fisherman. Mhmm. Billy Joe Cross, who I knew, was, the director of game and fish commissioner, director, at Fish Barnet. I'd won a tournament on Barnet, and I knew a lot of places. I knew a lot of fishermen there. So I said, sure. So I started doing a local show in Jackson, and I had people there I could call from the state office. And the governor would come he'd be a guest on the show. Oh, wow. And then I had the, voting safety director. I had the game and fish director, and I had local fishermen. I and then I could fish over at Show 1, Lake Washington, Lake Lee, Ross Barnett, do shows. Well, then WBRZ channel two in Baton Rouge said, hey. Their sister station said, said, will you do one for us? I said, yeah. Well, then I had the capital of Louisiana, Baton Rouge. Uh-huh. I had the same deal there, all the state officials. So I started doing one in Baton Rouge. Then JCPenney used to be in the sporting good business, Paducah, Kentucky, up near Kentucky Lake. I got a call from them and said, well, would you do one for us? So I was doing, I said, yeah. So I ended up Memphis was bread and butter.

Tom Rowland: Uh-huh.

Bill Dance: I had to do it every week. So I would go to Jackson and take four shows, line up all my guests, then run down to Baton Rouge and take four shows. And I'd use the footage, some of Memphis footage, some of Jackson, Mississippi, Baton Rouge footage, then I'd run up to Paducah and take four shows. And I'd mix the the video I mean, the the the footage up on all markets, you know, rotate. So I'm doing four markets, fifty two weeks a year. I was in I was doing 208 shows a year.

Tom Rowland: Wow. Now who's editing all this? Are you doing you're doing all the editing.

Bill Dance: I I was I was writing, scripting, shooting, editing all all all my shows and lining up all my guests. And I was doing 208 shows a year. Well, I said, Sonny Jim. I said, make a freight train, take a dirt road. I said, boy. And I and I'm fishing in the tournaments too. And I went and so after, we syndicated. Advancers in Saint Louis said, you Bill, you need to syndicate this. So we syndicated. I gave Bobby Meadors my show in Baton Rouge. Mhmm. And then I I I stopped I stopped Kentucky. I mean, Paducah, and I stopped Jackson. Yeah. And Memphis. I kept Memphis for a little bit, and I said, I was going around in circles trying to trying to do promotions. You know how that is for sponsors because you do that. And, trying to do what I could in fishing tournaments and stuff. And I I finally had to give up tournaments for a year. I just couldn't do it all. Yeah. And, finally, I said, I'm gonna do this syndication. So we syndicated 90 network markets. Wow. And, this cost of syndication skyrocketed. Cable was starting to come into play, and we went with ESPN. And we rocked along with ESPN for about two or three years, and we hit the markets. We hit New York, Toronto, Montreal, Buffalo, Minneapolis, Boise, Spokane Mhmm. San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Miami, New Orleans, Atlanta. We I mean, we hit we hit the all over all across the country.

Tom Rowland: Total saturation.

42:50 · Total Saturation and Finding the Audience

Bill Dance: Yeah. Total saturation. But we didn't hit the demographics that we really needed to hit. And, after about a little over two years, we just didn't hit that loyal brand buying market that we really needed to hit. And there was a little network that popped up over in Nashville, Tennessee called TNN. Yeah. The Nashville network. And we looked at that, and I went, boom. We better look at that. And we looked at T and N. Well, T and N had bull riding. Mhmm. They had Country Western. They had the demographics were just perfect. Right. We picked up Walmart. We picked up Chevrolet. We picked up I mean, we hit a we hit a niche that was just perfect. And, we move we move there, and our numbers just went through the roof. Mhmm. And, it was just a perfect niche. The demographics couldn't have

Tom Rowland: been better. Right. I happen to know a little bit about that because my first television experience ever was on Shaw Grigsby's show. He was on TNN at that same time.

Bill Dance: Hey, Shaw was. And it

Tom Rowland: was if I'm not mistaken, was it a Monday night or a Thursday night?

Bill Dance: Well, I think it was a Thursday night when it when it started.

Tom Rowland: There was one night when it was just Yeah.

Bill Dance: That that that was the night that we promoted, and then it moved to Saturdays, I think.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. This was an a weird night. I don't wanna say it was a Monday, but maybe it was a Thursday. And, so Shaw came down. He was gonna do a a a show with, someone else, Marshall.

Bill Dance: Was Monday. I I can't remember.

Tom Rowland: Could I think it might have been because I I was surprised that there were so many people watching. And it was about a half million people, as I remember. There were the the numbers were through the roof. Anyway, Shaw, or Marshall Cutchin didn't wanna do the show, so he told him to call me. And I said, sure. I'll do it. I don't know anything about it. I'll go. I don't know anything about it, but I I guess. And so Shaw I took Shaw, and we caught barracudas. Big barracudas. Had a great show. And I didn't know anything about I mean, there was no social media. There wasn't anything. Shaw says it's coming on sometime soon. And one day, the phone exploded. It just wouldn't stop ringing. And I I didn't know what happened because I didn't see the show live. I didn't know anything about it. And the phone just started ringing and ringing and ringing, and it rang for months. And this is back when we had an answering machine with tape, and that tape would be full. And I'd put in another one. And it just was insane, the number of people that were watching that. And like you say, the demographic was absolutely perfect. It was unbelievable.

Bill Dance: It was unbelievable.

Tom Rowland: And the the response to that one show led me to believe, wow, there's something to television because I've never seen anything like this. Oh, it's unbelievable. It was it was crazy.

Bill Dance: Well, we we we stayed with that for almost fifteen years.

Tom Rowland: Mhmm.

Bill Dance: And then Viacom came in and bought the Gaylord, that that enterprise in there, and they moved him to New York. Then we went with OLN Mhmm. The Outdoor Life Network. And then Spike, I think, came in there and then, NBC Sports. And we went with NBC Sports. Mhmm. And then with the Discovery, that deal with and then with and then came along the Outdoor Channel, then the Sportsman Channel. And so we were running four networks, NBC Sports, Discovery, Outdoor Channel Mhmm. And Sportsman Channel. And then when we looked at the numbers and compared the numbers so where we are now, we're back with, we're we're we're with the outdoor channel and the sportsman channel.

46:43 · The Bloopers Nobody Expected

Tom Rowland: Well, that's only on on television. We're gonna talk about the social media here in a little bit and how how that's all changed. But, that's that's very interesting. I had no idea that you worked so hard to get this whole thing going. I mean, you're producing four shows at a time. That's that's incredible. And I I I I wanna talk to you about that, but believe it or not, with an hour and a half, we're gonna run out of time. So I wanna ask you a couple of questions. One, I wanna know one of the things that that I have always liked about you the most was that you are humble enough to put your blooper video out because a lot of people wouldn't. Right? Like, a lot of people don't think it's funny to watch themselves fall down a hill or get chased by a goose or hit their hit their shin on the on the trailer hitch. But I wanna know what it was like for you to think about putting that out. What did that look like?

Bill Dance: Well, it's just part it's just it's it's just part of the things that happened. Yeah. I mean, you know, we, that thing came about. Tony Mac, our producer, We had, I'll tell you how it it came about. I think Tony came up with an idea to insert, an outtake. And, so he he he stuck it in a show, and the response was real good. Yeah. Social media wasn't going at that time, and he just stuck it in a show. And the response was was real good. We got a lot of comments on it. And, so a few weeks passed, and he said, why don't we just dig dig through the archives and do a show on and entitle it outtakes or something. And I said he said, you have problem with that? And I said, no. I don't have a problem with it. And I I really didn't because it I thought it was funny. Yeah. Just outtakes and things, stupid things that happen. And and it was unbelievable when you have two camera shoots. And he and he told the camera crew, he said, from now on when things happen, don't cut the camera off. Just let it roll. And it was unbelievable how much stuff over all the years that they started digging back through, all our footage Yeah. And and stuff that they found and and could come up with. And so he compiled a super bloopers and practical jokes or something. That was a title that Ed McMahon and Dick Clark. And we got a call from them. And Tony talked to them, their agency, and they said, we'd like to run a couple of those bloopers. Uh-huh. And they were doing a deal on Saturday night, and that was the title of that show, Dick Clark Productions. They had Super Loopers and Practical Show. So Tony sent them. And then short time after that, the BBC in London, we got a note from them, and they wanted a couple of them. And so Tony so Tony said, well, you know, this thing and then we got a note from CBS, and they picked up they they started a blooper show. Mhmm. And then Rogan's Heroes in California started a blooper show, and they want it. So Tony says, well, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'll just put together a contract, and we'll sell these things. Well, we had a contract with NBC that they wanted eight a year. Yeah. And then CBS wanted x amount a year. And then the BBC in London, wanted so many a year. So we just sent them a contract, and we had a little profitable thing going right there that we could still run what we wanted to. And then Tony said, what we ought to do is just make a blooper tape. So we came out with volume one Uh-huh. And it just went boom. It went off the charts.

Tom Rowland: And then You would advertise that on your own show. Yeah. Well,

Bill Dance: I think, Bass Pro put it in, and they just sold a little starch out of them. And then we still had a pile of stuff. Somebody said, when are you gonna come out with blooper two? I said, well, we'll just do it right now. So we had enough stuff. And then we had bloopers with entertainers like Mel Tillis Yeah. And and Porter Wagner and Terry Bradshaw and a a bunch of entertainers that we had fished with over the years. And, so we just stuck some of the wild stuff that they had done in there. And, so we came with blooper two. And then people started saying, when are you gonna come out with blooper three? So we said, alright. We'll just do that today. So if we just we'd look back and we had enough for blooper three. And they even today, it's fifteen years, they are still running pieces out of blooper one. That big swan?

Tom Rowland: Yeah.

Bill Dance: We went over there to do a piece at, at it was at Charles'. His wife wanted a big, big swan. And we're standing over on the his pond behind Charles' house demonstrating something. And I looked up, and somebody said, watch out. And I looked up, and you could see the dust. And this big old swan is coming down the lake bank like a runaway dump truck. And I said, what's he doing? And he said, you better get out of the way. He's gonna knock knock you over. And I mean, that big, big swan, I mean, it's big as a Volkswagen. I mean, it's coming coming down through there. And, I mean, it's coming right at me. And, boy, I jumped out of the way, and it went by. And when it made a u-turn, it banked like a jet airplane. As it banked, it saw itself in the bumper on the truck. It peeled off and started beating the fire out of that bumper. And I said, that goose I mean, that that stupid thing's crazy. And it was going boom, boom, boom, just beating, flogging that bumper on that truck. And I I walked over and I said, what? And about that time it saw me in that bumper and boom, it made a u-turn and boom, it took off after me. And I took off running. Well, I didn't have any place to run except I didn't know where the rocks were in that lake. I just either run across the top of the water on that lake or fight him off with that rod and, boy, he started flogging me. And Pete picked the camera, and he started videoing it. I can't I mean, he just beat me all over that lake Bank. That thing and biting. So those were just funny things that happened. But, we got that and oh, it's just funny things. The trolling motor jumping off the

Tom Rowland: boat. Hilarious.

Bill Dance: And, those things are falling on the boat. I watched

Tom Rowland: all those with my kids. I watched those with my dad. I just thought they were the funniest thing ever.

Bill Dance: Well, we had, we've had a lot of ladies, parents, women tell us it's been the best babysitter they ever had because they just take it, put it in the put it in a VCR, and the kids just lay there on a pillow and watch it. Yeah. And they go on and cook dinner and come back and look, and kids are just still laying there on the pillow. You know? Then we came with a three hours a three hour one. Wow. And, that one really is a good babysitter. I bet it is. So I bet it is. It's been it's been a been a good thing. No. It didn't didn't bother me. It's just things that happen. If you're if

Tom Rowland: you can't laugh at yourself, you're missing

Bill Dance: the best material. Absolutely. Absolutely.

54:39 · The Iconic Tennessee Cap

Tom Rowland: So what about the what about the tea hat?

Bill Dance: The TCAP goes back to, I grew up with the Majors. Oh, really? Johnny Majors and Larry and Bill Majors over in Lynchburg. That's where they're from. Shirley Majors was a coach of the Lynchburg Raiders. He coached them four and a half years, and they were undefeated before they moved over to Huntland. Mhmm. And then John became coach at Sewanee, and then not John, but Shirley. John's daddy. And, but I've stayed close to John. He's over at Knoxville now. But even when, he was with Tennessee, but I love Tennessee. And the, I love football program, of course. We're working our way back. Yeah. We we're climbing out of where

Tom Rowland: we we we we dark years.

Bill Dance: Yeah. I know. We've had some some slow years, but we're coming back.

Tom Rowland: It'll come back. I

Bill Dance: don't know. We're we're too good at we're too good at university not to come back. We'll we'll be back.

Tom Rowland: So when did you decide that was gonna be your your iconic look?

Bill Dance: Well, I got a call from, the one of the recruiters over there and the one of the coaches and it was a young recruit a young player that loved to fish. And one of the coaches over there said, see if, does Bill know this player? Randy Sanders was one of the coaches, and they were trying to recruit Randy Sanders. And, I said, I'll call him. So I called him, and I was telling him how great pitching was. I said, we've got 26 great major lakes in Tennessee. We've got the world record smallmouth. We got the world record walleye. I said, oh, man. We've got beautiful streams. We've got this and that. And come to Tennessee and play football for Tennessee. Said, boy, I'd love to take you fishing. And, we hyped in. Every time Randy could go, I couldn't go. And when Randy could go, I couldn't go. And so I was hyping it. And Doug Dickey, sent me my sent me a TCAB, and I I wore it. And soon as I got I won a tournament. Yeah. And then I won another tournament. And so then it became a trademark, and I've worn I've worn this hat ever since. Uh-huh. And then Doug became, he left Tennessee and went down to Florida, became AD down there, and then he came back to Tennessee and became AD. Mhmm. But I got a call from him right before he left Tennessee and wanted me to come walk with him out in midfield and, at a homecoming game, and I couldn't because I had a promotion. It was very disappointing I that I couldn't make that make that homecoming game with with him. But Doug Dickey I got those TCAPS from Doug Dickey, and I've worn them ever since. Mhmm. And we go through a lot of TCAPS.

Tom Rowland: But Did that player come to Tennessee and play? Yes. Who was it?

Bill Dance: Sanders. Sanders?

Tom Rowland: Uh-huh. Be nice if it was Peyton Manning. Be Oh, yeah. That'd be a good story.

Bill Dance: Oh, yeah. But that's he came to Tennessee. He really did.

57:51 · Taking the Show to Saltwater

Tom Rowland: Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. That's cool. So, Randy Sanders. What about the saltwater show? Let's talk about the saltwater show.

Bill Dance: Well, it took me that's your bag. Yeah. Your, and your buddy helped me a lot with saltwater, Tudor. But we had been doing saltwater excuse me. We've been doing freshwater for a long time. And we got to a point where we just, you know, we looked at hunting, and, we started a hunting show way back yonder. And we just didn't think it was gonna pan out, so we just stuck with fishing. First order fishing. And then we got to a point where we just gone as far as we could go. And I said, you know what we ought to do? We ought to do a saltwater show. And so we formatted it similar to the way we did our freshwater show.

Tom Rowland: Mhmm.

Bill Dance: And I went to a network, and I talked to the program director. And I told him what I had in mind, and he says, I like it. Let's do it. And so we went to the sponsors, which is a hard thing to do as you well know. And I pitched it. They liked it. They said, okay. Let's do it. So then I went, and I started picking places. And I figured I'd better start inshore. Mhmm. Because more people could relate to inshore. More people can afford to do inshore than

Tom Rowland: Same kind of equipment for the

Bill Dance: most part. Right. And, more so than offshore. Mhmm. And so and they can relate to that because a lot of inshore is a lot like bass fishing Yeah. To to a degree. And so Tudor was one of the first guests.

Tom Rowland: Yeah.

Bill Dance: And I did I did quite a few shows with with Rich. Yeah. And he's very knowledgeable, and that's what I wanted. And I asked him lots of questions. We did permit shows. We did shark shows. We did, I don't know. We did a, we did a Grand Slam show. Mhmm. You remember?

Tom Rowland: Yep. I

Bill Dance: do. We did we caught Bonefish. In fact, we did beyond the Grand Slam. We caught redfish. We caught bonefish. We caught tarpon, and we caught, permit. Yeah. And, we caught four different species in one show.

Tom Rowland: Well, Rich told me about all of that. And, one of the things that one of the things about Rich and over the years of fishing with him and fishing in the tournaments and fishing just on the day to day deal, he's pretty he's pretty high strung, and he's got a a a remarkable amount of energy.

Bill Dance: Oh, he does. He does. I mean, he

Tom Rowland: just he'll fish everybody into the dirt. And the camera guys are dying. They haven't eaten lunch, and he's like, well, let's start another show. And it's 06:30 in the afternoon, and we got that one. Let's start another one. And they're like, man, you're killing us. You're absolutely killing us. And even, you know, I try to stay in really good shape. I have a hard time keeping up with him as far as he goes.

Bill Dance: Oh, he does have a lot of heat.

Tom Rowland: He wants to go and go and go. So he calls me up and he says, man, I said, how'd it go? He said, I can't keep up with Bill Dance. He's got the most energy I've ever seen in my life. He said, he we've we did this show. We got this. We caught a permit, a tarpon, and a bonefish. And then we catch a redfish. And then he wants to keep fish until dark. I mean, what else could we possibly catch? And I I'd say,

Bill Dance: I mean, he said, he does. And he goes, what do you wanna do now? I said, well, we need to do are you kidding me? Yeah. I said, no. And he said, that rain's gonna get us. I said, well, that looks like it's moving south. No. I think it's moving straight at us. I said, no. I don't think so. He was ready. You had him Come on, Rich.

Tom Rowland: We fished him into the ground, and he was ready to come home. And I don't know anybody, anyone that that has been able to do that. So how do you how do you keep up this amazing amount of energy that you have?

Bill Dance: I don't know. It's just the the determination. Just wanting to get the best I can possibly get Yeah. And to to deliver the best quality that we can possibly deliver. You know, I I think you know, that was a good shot, and that was a good jump, and that was a good thing. But maybe the next one's gonna be just a little bit better. I don't know. I just I don't know. Yeah. I'm there, and I don't know. We push real hard to make it the best we can possibly make it. And we do it with good people. And but just, I don't know. We work real, real hard. The But you do it with

62:34 · The Team That Stayed Together

Tom Rowland: you do it with good people, but you also have a good team around you. You're you're

Bill Dance: You couldn't make it without a

Tom Rowland: good team. I know. And I I feel the same way. How long has your current team been together?

Bill Dance: Woah. People we've been working with, I would say, how long have we been working together, Pete? Thirty three years. Hello? Thirty three years. Thirty three years. Yeah. Pete's been shooting with me thirty three years. Timmy's been, how long?

Tom Rowland: Timmy in the back. Twenty five. Twenty five.

Bill Dance: Twenty five. And then, of course, Tony passed away this past year. Tony's been with me for, what, forty? We lost Tony about, this past year. How long? Forty five? Yes. About forty five. Tony, been with me for forty family working with you. And then, Billy, of course, has been with me for thirty years. And he does all a lot of a lot of our social stuff, our Facebook. And then, Don has been with me, does all our bookkeeping and Well, that says

Tom Rowland: a lot about about you as a as a leader. How do you manage to to keep that team together like that?

Bill Dance: We just everybody knows what their responsibilities are, and everybody does it. Everybody's got their own little niche, and I don't even have to be here. They know what to do, and, they do it. And they take a lot of pride in what they do. You know, you're only as good as the people that work for you, and so, we're like a chain. Sometimes I'm the first link on that chain. Sometimes I'm the middle part of that chain. Sometimes I'm the last link in that chain. But everybody just pulls together. Mhmm. And, that's what it takes. But everybody just kinda knows what to do, and we just we we just we work together to make it happen. Mhmm. So we do 39 original shows a year, and that's a lot.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. That's fresh and saltwater.

Bill Dance: Right? That's fresh and saltwater. 26 fresh and 13. And we we air fifty two weeks a year, so it's it's, and then Carlton handles our sponsor relation Right. Work. So it just

Tom Rowland: Been working with Carlton for a long time too. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Bill Dance: So we've got, I don't know. Every year, we just we've got good sponsors. We've had some sponsors. Our board motor sponsor, we've had for, oh, 45.

Tom Rowland: Yeah.

Bill Dance: Like, our retail sponsor, we've had, oh, going on thirty years.

65:25 · Watching Johnny Morris Build Bass Pro

Tom Rowland: Well, that retail sponsor is none other than Bass Pro Shops.

Bill Dance: Right.

Tom Rowland: And you have a you have a a really good relationship with Johnny Morris.

Bill Dance: Yeah. Johnny and I have been buddies for forty five years.

Tom Rowland: And so you saw that that business develop

Bill Dance: Oh, yeah.

Tom Rowland: From nothing. Right? I mean, from Well,

Bill Dance: I remember when John when Johnny used to talk about he wanted to get into the retail business.

Tom Rowland: Mhmm.

Bill Dance: And, he'd he'd talk about he'd dream about. And I've I've watched his dreams. He'd talk about things he wanted to do, and I've watched those dreams become reality. And he's just got an amazing ability to think things and make things happen. And it's just he'd look at something, and he'd say I remember the the gigantic pyramid in Memphis. Mhmm. And we walked in we walked into that pyramid, thirteen years ago, and it was a dirt floor. Mhmm. And we just come off the Mississippi River catfish. And, it was a cold day. And we were standing there, and he looked down at the floor, and he looked way up at the top of the pyramid. It was just, you know, a vacant type thing. And he said, Bill, we're gonna do this deal. And I said, okay. And he said, you know, we could put a big cypress tree over here, 80 foot cypress tree, and we can put some cypress trees here. And he can make a cypress tree. You would.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. They they look exactly

Bill Dance: like it. They look identical to a cypress tree. You you'll stand beside it, and somebody will bet you that's that's that's a real tree. And it it looks identical to a tree. And we'll put some 80 foot trees here, some 60 foot trees here, and we'll we'll put the river we'll put part of the river through here, and we'll put native fish, gar, alligator gar, crappie, bass, that are native to the river, here. And then we'll put a freestanding elevator right here, 325 feet all the way to the top.

Tom Rowland: And you're just watching all of this just happen in his head right there. He just goes and he concepts the whole thing.

Bill Dance: We can put an aquarium up in the top of the pyramid, and we can put catfish there. You can get them out of the river, can't you? I said, yeah. And and we'll put them here. And, and and he said, I'm getting excited. I'm getting excited. And he'll just start shaking, and he'll hold he'll he'll start he'll get ahold of you, and he'll start shaking you. And he'll say, I'm getting excited. Boy, when he says that. And he says and and and we can take and then he'll we can do this, can't we? And I said, yep. We can do it. You yep, Johnny. Anything you believe, you can do it. And he says and and and then and then we do this and we do that. And when you look and you walk in that place, it will blow your mind away Mhmm. At what he's done.

Tom Rowland: Do you see it do you see it that he's been able to to has that original has that original, vision that he had It's there. It's it's there.

Bill Dance: It what what he said when we're standing on that dirt floor, everything just a few things that he mentioned, they're there. Yeah. They're they're there now. There's 150 pound alligator gar swimming right through there. There's bass there. There's there's gar there. I mean, there's crappie there. There's native to the Mississippi River, they're there. And that free flowing water that comes right through there, those cypress trees are there.

Tom Rowland: Well, he's a he's certainly here. There.

Bill Dance: There's a 115 rooms there.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. That place is incredible. And he's a he's a guy just like you said. Like, you're you're going on a film shoot. It's always the next one. It's always the next one. It's not good enough. Let's keep polishing. Keep polishing. I mean, you go to his stores and every little detail, the handle of the door, and every little thing that you look around, there's details on every little thing. And he's he's definitely I've seen

Bill Dance: him walk in a room, and he looked, and he says, no. That that storage area needs to be six inches wider. I said, well, we've already put I don't care. Take it out. It needs to be six inches wider. I just take it all out. He he he wants it this way, that way. It it it's gotta be

Tom Rowland: Well, it works.

Bill Dance: It works. He's a he's an amazing guy. And he's the same Johnny Morris today as he was forty five years ago. Very humble. Mhmm. Very appreciative. And,

Tom Rowland: And he's been able to build that from starting out in his, dad's closet in his dad's store. Is that is that accurate?

Bill Dance: I remember I remember he called me, he said, he called me one night, and he said, hey. Daddy gave me the backup store. And I said and his daddy had a chain of, of spirit stores, liquor stores.

Tom Rowland: Mhmm. And

Bill Dance: he said, daddy gave me the back of the store. And I said, he did? He said, yeah. I'm gonna have a grand opening in about a few weeks. Will you come up for my grand opening? And I said, well, absolutely. Just let me know. Well, he called me and he said, it's gonna be a week from Saturday. Will you be here? I said, I'll be there. And so I flew up Friday, spent the night with him, and we got up that Saturday morning, went trout fishing. And I caught a big, big rainbow and, biggest one I'd ever caught. And we drove to the store, and I'll never forget it over there on Kearny. As we drove up, the police were directing traffic on that corner. Uh-huh. And it was a Brown Derby liquor store. And up on this big post pole was a marquee, and it said, Jack Daniels, half gallons, eighteen ninety five. Jim Bean, half gallons, fourteen ninety five. Welcome, Bill Dan. And I thought, buddy, I made the big time. My name's up here with Jack Daniels. And, I couldn't get over it. I went in that store, and if you go to Bass Pro in Springfield Uh-huh. He's got replicas of that, you know, little he's got pictures of all that. But, I remember going in that store, and he had a little old video aquarium. You ought to see the aquariums over there now. I know. Oh, they're oh, goodness. A 100 300 gallon aquarium, but bigger than that. But he had a little box aquarium, and he put crappie in there and bass in there. The bass ate all the crap. But he had the little box aquarium, and, but he had spinnerbaits, old Virgil Ward spinnerbaits, and people were buying I was accustomed to selling one or two spinnerbaits. People were buying the whole cart, a dozen spinnerbaits at a time. This this was a big time deal. Yeah. And his daddy I remember the story. Johnny had rods in a in a barrel, and they were really classy looking rods. I mean, the cosmetics on the rod Mhmm. I mean, the wraps were good. The the guides were good. The the handles, the the rods were really nice looking rods. And he had them priced at, $24.95. And John a, his daddy, he picked that rod up and he went, oh, John. Johnny, this is a nice looking rod. $24.95? And Johnny said, yes, sir. And Johnny looked at Johnny, and he says, you're selling this rod for $24.95? And he said, yes, sir. He said, I just don't understand lot this this nice for $24.95. How much did this rod cost you? And, Johnny looked at him. No. I'm telling this wrong. He says, how much does this rod cost? He's he you're selling this rod for $19.95. And he said, yes, sir. He says, you mean to tell me you can sell a rod this quality rod for $19.95? And Johnny said, yes, sir. And he said, son, I just don't understand how you can sell a rod like this for 20 for for $19.95. And Johnny said, yes, sir. He said, well, how much does a rod like this cost you? And he said, $24.95. And he said, this rod cost you $24.95, son, and you're selling it for $19.95? And, he said, yes, sir. He said, you'll never make it in this business, boy. You'll never make it in this business. And, but they his daddy, of course, being John a being in the liquor business, you know, he said, daddy, you just don't understand that. It's it's a leader. It's a leader. These people will buy all these rods, but they'll buy a reel to go with it, and they'll buy a line to go on the rail, and they'll buy baits to go with it. And he says, I don't understand that. He said, I know you don't, but he says,

Tom Rowland: Probably not many people did back then. I mean, that was that was contrary. Right?

Bill Dance: No. There there were leaders. You know? I I remember

Tom Rowland: He's had a vision of how he does that and takes care of his customers, and he and he brings people into the sport. And then they intent they, in turn, buy thousands and thousands of dollars in boats and motors and everything else.

Bill Dance: The merchants don't do it a lot of that today, but I remember back in those early days that remember when I was telling you about Fabulous Surplus City? Yeah. They did a lot of that, and they sold a lot of merchandise. And we we do so much impulse buying today, and they do a lot of leader stuff. They did a lot of leader stuff back then. You know? Yeah. Anything to get you in the store.

75:29 · The 75-Cent Bait That Kick-Started It All

Tom Rowland: Alright. So I wanna ask a couple more questions. You pointed at that bait right there when we first came in here. You said that that supercharged your career.

Bill Dance: It kick started my career.

Tom Rowland: Let me see what it is and and This old bait?

Bill Dance: Yeah. I've told this story before. As I told you one time, the only place you could buy a fishing tackle, back when I was growing up, we didn't have Bass Pro Shops, and we didn't have Walmarts and Academies and Cabela's. The only place you could buy fish and tackle was a hardware store. Well, growing up in Lynchburg, Tennessee, there was one place that sold fish and tackle, and that was Connor Motlow's. And Connor Motlow had a hardware store. Mhmm. Well, Connor Motlow's brother, Reggart, ran the distillery, Jack Daniel's distillery. And these are the Motlow's. Lem Motlow's the proprietor of Jack Daniel's distillery. And his brother had the bank and but, anyway, I'd go by that hardware store all the time. And old Clayton Tosh was a manager of that hardware store. And I'd run-in there and I says I looked in that to that glass case, and I says, Tosh, let me see that bait. And he had Arbogast baits, and this was an Arbogast bait.

Tom Rowland: Mhmm.

Bill Dance: And he pulls Hawaiian wigglers out.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. I remember that.

Bill Dance: He put he he pulled this exact bait out. I mean, the bait just like it. Old frog colored jitterbug. And I'd look at that bait, and I said, how much is that bait, Tash? He said, Billy? My grandmother called me, Billy. Says it's the same price today as it was yesterday, the day before, last week, and the week before, 75¢. I think it's and I said, I bet he'll catch a bass. He said, he'll catch a bass. And I take it out, and I just look at it. And I says, a jitterbug. Boy, boy, boy. That's the prettiest bait I believe I've ever seen. There. Let me look at it one more time. Boy. Can I run short to my grandmother? He said, yeah. Bring it back. I'd I'd run and show it. And I said, grandmother, ain't that the prettiest boat you ever saw? She said, what is that thing? I said, they call it a jitter book. See, it's written right there. My my. I said, they have a 75¢. Is that right? Yeah. 75¢. I gotta take it back. Tosh told me to bring it back. Boy, just 75¢. I won't take it back. Just 75¢. I took I took it back. Well, finally, I talk about it, and I said, I'm going down there to the hardware store and look at that bite. And she says and she reached she had a handkerchief. She undid her handkerchief, and she reached in that handkerchief. She took three quarters. She said, here. She said, when you go, give Tysha three quarters and get you that bait. Man, I tell you one thing. I went like I was like a I mean, you couldn't I was flying. I ran in and I bought that bait. Uh-huh. But, we went everybody in in town had closed up on every Wednesday. The the square everybody on the square closed up. You know? Uh-huh. And everybody do different things, but town would close-up on Wednesday half a day. Well, we went we didn't go to the creek that day. Granddad and grandmother and I, we went to Cumberland Springs Lake. It was up the road about seven, eight miles. And grandmother spread a would spread a a quilt under the shade tree, and she'd take two or three double colas and put them on a stringer and just pitch them out there. And it was a little spring that came in down by that tree, and she'd just pitch them right in that spring. And granddaddy would take his rods, old Langley Mhmm. And Shakespeare reels, and he'd throw them out, and he'd fish for red ears with with with worms. Mhmm. He had a worm bed there in the backyard or in the in the back. And I took a bait casting rod that it was a metal rod. In fact, it's in my office. And, and it had braided line on it and a section of cat gut that we call monofilament today. Mhmm. And I went down on right. Probably from here to the road out there, And I got on that point, and I I did made two or three false cast and loosen the tension up on that little Shakespeare reel and that little true temper metal rod. And I looked to my right, and when I did, I saw two bass swimming along. If I had that that book, I'd show you a picture of it. It's up here in my my office. But, anyway, and I looked, and I saw a bass about two pounds. Mhmm. And I saw another bass about a pound swimming along. And I went, look a yonder. And I my my heart started beating like this, and I said, I'm gonna make a cast. And I I went through about four or five fat false cast, and I went, boom. I threw. And I made a pretty good cast. The bait landed about 20 feet from the fish. Uh-huh. That was a pretty good cast. But and the bait hit the water. I'd always remembered, my granddad being a doctor, it always talked to me about taught me a lot about anatomy, like wading the creeks, walking on rocks, and, you know, on the gravel. Creeks were clear. And the rock bed creeks and limestone bluffs and stuff, and walking on those rocks, how whale fish could hear and sight Mhmm. And a lot about the anatomy, which helped me a lot through the years. And so, anyway, so, anyway

Tom Rowland: Look at that. Yeah.

Bill Dance: Here here here here was that old rod.

Tom Rowland: That's the same lure I used when I was a kid. Right here, the double spinner.

Bill Dance: Yeah. It's an old Shannon twin spin. Yeah. But here here's that old rod, an old braided line.

Tom Rowland: Wow. But I got my there's one just like this in my dad's, something similar. I don't know if it's exactly the same rod, a metal rod like this. Yeah. Heavy, man. Yeah. It's heavy. But And and a couple of these reels too.

Bill Dance: Yeah. You throw it and it goes. You know? It sounds like a cat getting rid of the pie. But the but, anyway, the the so, anyway, I made the cast and but when the bait hit, what impressed me, both bass stopped. Well, that told me those fish heard that bait. And I remember what my granddad taught me. He said I said, sound. They heard that they heard that bait hit. And it went floop when it hit. Well, I went I started reeling the bait. Well, both fish turned in the direction of the bait. And I said, they heard that bait. And I went. Well, both fish turned and started moving toward the bait. And the he said the bigger fish was more would be more aggressive. Well, it led the pack. It was ahead of the smaller fish. Well, they swim within about half the distance to the bait, and I stopped the bait, and they stopped. And I said, so I started debate, and they started. I stopped debate. They'd stop. I start debate. They'd start. I'd stop. They'd stop. I'd start. They'd start. Well, finally, I kinda got a little closer, and they were within two feet of the bait. And I know now they were in visual con visual contact of the bait. They can see the bait. Mhmm. As I started to bait up, the two pounder just went and just blew into the bait. Mhmm. You could see the bait. And when he did, you know, I pulled back with this this great piece of doing. Yeah. You see it? Yeah. It's got some good backbone. Yeah. You know, to steal. But I started winding, and and I wound about four, five times like this, and the fish jumped. And I wind a little bit more, and he jumped again. And I got so excited. I just threw the rod over my head, and I grabbed a hold of this braided line. And I just started well roping him. Point point point point point. And, I just pulled him right up on that point. Of course, I could see it out because the water was so clear because it was a spring fed light, Cumberland Springs. And when I got him up on the bank, I just pulled him up on the bank. And, then he was flopping. I was just reeled the line up as fast as I could, and I just took off running. And I ran to where my grandmother and granddaddy were, and I held him up. I showed him the fish. Here's the fish. Look at that.

Tom Rowland: That's awesome. And that's and there's the jitterbug.

Bill Dance: Yeah. There's the jitterbug. I don't know if you can see it or not, but That's amazing. Check out those US kids shoes. I know.

Tom Rowland: Those are popular today. My daughter wears those. They they brought that High top Converse, they call them now. They're pretty much the same feel.

Bill Dance: Yeah. That that bait was made in '9 in 1934. Mhmm. And, surprisingly, it's still made today. Works. In fact, we did a show on it last year.

Tom Rowland: Did you?

Bill Dance: Uh-huh. But

Tom Rowland: That's cool.

Bill Dance: But the thing is that, what you can learn, but it really kick started my career, you know, learning about

Tom Rowland: Your first sponsorship. That was your first sponsorship. Well Your grandmother. Oh, yeah. She gave you the 75¢.

Bill Dance: She gave me the she gave me the, 75¢ to buy that bait. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you

Tom Rowland: turned that 75¢, into into something a little bit bigger.

Bill Dance: Well, I mean, what what impressed me though that I tricked a a a living creature into hitting a piece of plastic that had a piece of metal on it. And I ran. I showed that to Tosh, and he said, well, I know you love that bait. I said, I really did. And, of course, grandmother was real happy, and she was well, the 75¢ worked.

86:56 · How Fishing Has Changed

Tom Rowland: It sure did. Well, she What do you think the the crate of all the the stuff that you've seen being creative? I mean, bass fishing over the years has had some pretty wacky ideas. Well, I've seen that. The craziest idea.

Bill Dance: Oh, I've seen some crazy things. I've seen people come out with ideas that they thought were great. Mhmm. But, that I've seen things go to market that, that people really, really believed in. Deep down in their heart, they really thought they hit were gonna make a a fortune on it. Mhmm. That just didn't go anywhere.

Tom Rowland: Right.

Bill Dance: But, but I've seen other things that have hit the market that, have done exceptionally well. I've I've seen back when this whole thing started, I looked and I said, this can't get any better. And five years later, I said, boy. Look here.

Tom Rowland: Right.

Bill Dance: And then ten years passed. And I I looked and I said, my goodness. Look where it's going. And then fifteen years, then twenty years. And I look at the, marine industry, our engines today. Yeah. Our four stroke engines. It's amazing.

Tom Rowland: Incredible. I

Bill Dance: look at our boats Mhmm. How comfortable they are, how how they take us to places, but they bring us back home safely. The construction of our boats. Mhmm. I look at our our trolling motors. But the one thing that has really impressed me is our electronics. Mhmm. It's amazing what our electronics do. And there's features now in our electronics that, without being commercialized, it going into being real commercial. But, it's almost like live video. We have things now that we we can we can see things. We can see things move. We can throw a bait. We can see our bait running. We can see fish hit our baits. We can pinpoint key irregular features. We can see cover. We can see fish on that cover. We can throw to that cover. We can catch those fish on that cover. We can see four fish on that cover. We can throw and catch that fish, and we can look back and see three fish on that cover. We can throw back and catch that fish and see two fish on that cover. Catch all four of them, and there's no fish on that cover. Right. Electronics have really impressed me, how far we've advanced in our electronics. I look at, our lines that go on our rails. Mhmm. How sensitive they are, how strong they are, our drag systems on our rails, our sensitivity, the weight of our rods, how powerful they are, how sensitive they are. It it's just that everything that's come along, the, how far advanced we we have moved in in every single thing that we have. Mhmm. Where do

Tom Rowland: you see it going in the next fifty?

Bill Dance: I don't know. If you if you'd ask hey. Hey. If you'd ask me that five years ago, I wouldn't I couldn't I I I would never have dreamed that I could lower my trolling motor and put my trolling motor right out there and see a drop off and see fish on it and be able to throw with those fish and and actually catch them Mhmm. And see them and know how far they are out in front of me. Mhmm. But I have I have the capabilities of doing that now, or being able to pull up 30 feet deep and say, oh, look right there and drop straight down and drop shot and catch fish directly onto the boat. Mhmm. I didn't think I could do that, ten years ago. Right. I didn't think that I could pick up a fishing rod that would weigh less than three ounces and catch a 30 pound fish on it. Mhmm. But I can.

Tom Rowland: Yep.

Bill Dance: I've seen you do it. I have. I I I've seen Rich do it. Yep. I've I've seen you and Rich do it, to take a to take a a lightweight rod that weighs practically nothing and just lightweight line and catch tremendously big fish. Well, we used to think you needed Right. 40 pound test line and a big heavy stiff No.

Tom Rowland: We see that. We see that, especially especially in something like tarpon fishing or or marlin fishing or sailfish, you know, where a sailfish rig used to be huge. Yeah. Now it's it looks like that. I mean, seriously, it looks You're right. Like that.

Bill Dance: You're right.

Tom Rowland: And, do you think that more people or less people are involved in fishing these days?

Bill Dance: I see it. I I look at the data, and I let me tell you what the way I see it. The way I see it. I see it surge one year. I see it a little bit slow. And then I see it surge again. I see it a little bit slow. I look at hunting. Hunting is an expensive sport. Mhmm. It's very expensive. And I hear hunters say, I just can't afford it. And they're picking up fishing again. And it's harder and harder to find a place to hunt. Mhmm. Because I look at it right here in in the Mid South where I live. I know a lot of duck hunters. Unless you've got a lot of money Mhmm. Duck hunting is an expensive sport. It's a seasonal sport. You got three months of the year. Alright? Your equipment, your dog, and unless you belong to a club

Tom Rowland: Mhmm.

Bill Dance: It's hard to find a place. Even right here on the Mississippi River, you know, everything has to be just perfect. Right. Fishing, you can fish twelve months of the year. With interstate travel the way it is, there's more and more availability. Right. And I hear a lot of people say, I'd rather spend my time fishing. Yeah. I can fish twelve months of the year. I'd rather spend my allotted time fishing as I had. Mhmm. I've got x amount of time. I've got x amount of dollars. And I would rather spend that fishing Yeah. As I had as I had, three months of the year spending that same amount of money hunting.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. Certainly, a lot of people do that. I I I saw for a while that it looked like the young people were abandoning the sport or not being introduced to the sport. I guess, not abandoning it. They were never introduced to the sport. But now I see this resurgence of these young young kids getting involved, and it seems like it's more popular than ever for the young kids. And you see it on YouTube, and there's hundreds thousands of these YouTube channels where they're kids pond hopping and catching bass and bream peacock bass and all the South Florida things. It seems like it's more popular.

Bill Dance: Well, Leslie well, it it's growing. Leslie, who does our Facebook does our social media stuff, she said that she has sees a surge in, an age group of, 25 to 40. That age group Mhmm. Is is is getting inefficient big time.

94:01 · Advice to a 25-Year-Old Bill Dance

Tom Rowland: Yeah. And I thought That's good. That's good. Alright. So before we wrap this up, I wanna know if you, if you could give your 25 year old self some advice. What might that be?

Bill Dance: If I could give myself advice.

Tom Rowland: When you were 25. You step back in time and you meet 25 year old Bill Dance, what would you tell him?

Bill Dance: Oh, I love you, but you give you're like, you want me to get some of the craziest, toughest answers.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. If I was 25 years old, what would I do? Now what would you tell yourself? With all your experience that you've gained right now, Knowing what you know now, you step back in time, you see Bill Dance at 25 years old, what would you tell him?

Bill Dance: Oof. I don't know what I'd tell me. I'd have to think about it. I think I would change knowing I'd have to go forward and then and then come back. I think I think there'd be a lot of things I would change. A lot of things I wouldn't do that I did. What are you planning for?

Tom Rowland: I'm just waiting. I'm waiting. I never know what's

Bill Dance: I never know what's going on. People probably looking and saying, what would I be doing? What would I do? I don't know if I would, you know you know, my life's been good to me. Life's been real good to me. I was able to do what I wanted to do to change a hobby into a profession. Mhmm. And it's it hadn't all been, peaches and cream. Mhmm. It's been I've I've hit some big rocks. It hadn't been all gravel. Mhmm. I've hit some big rocks along the way. I've stumped my toes, but I I would have made some some some changes along the way. You know, I wish I hadn't done this or I wish I hadn't done that, but it's just my there there'd been some changes. I wish I had invested in that stock. Yeah. I'll I'll I'll you know, a little bit stronger. Mhmm. But those were just things that but overall, I've been pretty much content. I married the girl I that I wanted to marry. The the children that are married I mean, that that that that Diane and I have had. They've been good. They, by and large, have been we hadn't had any major problems with them. Mhmm. They've all served their time in prison, and they no. No. They've we hadn't had any trouble with them. Uh-huh. They've gotten an education. They've done well. And, she's been proud of them. I don't know. I

Tom Rowland: Well, that's a want. That's If

Bill Dance: I had to give it up tomorrow, I'd I'd be fairly pleased with the with with with my life.

Tom Rowland: Well, I think that's a life well lived, if you can live

Bill Dance: by a good I think it's just a good definition. I I I'm pretty much pleased with a life well lived.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. Well, you got no regrets. I mean, somebody that that man, I wish I had I wish I had just given it a try. I thought I could make that happen, and and I wish I could've just given it a try.

Bill Dance: You know, you you can always you can always wish, but,

Tom Rowland: you know, you can always wish it was better, but it could always been worse. But, but the point is is that I think people with a lot of regrets are people that thought they could make something happen, but then they didn't actually ever give it a try. And then they get then then forty years later, they're thinking, man, I wish I had done that. You know? And you don't have any of that. That's that's a life that's a life well lived.

Bill Dance: I think. I I've had a life well lived. I I really believe that because I've got a I've got a good wife. She's she sacrificed a lot, and she's, I've got a bit I've got a good business. I've got good good people that I work with, that work with me, and I work with them. I mean, I've I've got a good I've I you know? Oh, you could always say, I wish I'd made a a $10,000,000 more, but I don't wanna be selfish about it. I've I've I've I've had a good life. Yeah. I really have.

Tom Rowland: Well, that, I I have been witness to to your life on the sidelines watching from TV. My dad and I used to watch your show when I grew up. And Used to?

Bill Dance: Mhmm.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. Well, no. I still watch it. I watch I watch your show with my kids. But, I just wanna I just wanna honor you, and thank you for sitting down with us today.

Bill Dance: Thank you, Tom.

Tom Rowland: And, I just wanna tell you that I have tremendous respect for you. Well, thank you, babe. Tremendous respect. And one of the reasons why I have tremendous respect for you is because from the moment I first met you as as someone coming into your industry, a potential threat, maybe. I don't know. Maybe I'm giving myself way too much credit there. But you you you look and you see people coming in, and you were never anything but unbelievably welcoming, unbelievably helpful, and encouraging.

Bill Dance: Thank you.

Tom Rowland: And you don't have to be that way. But a lot of people aren't that way. And I would like to honor you for that and thank you for that, and then just also just thank you for for what you've done for our industry. It's it's amazing. Thank you. And, you have brought so many people into this sport and helped them along the way and helped so much of this industry innovate. Thank you. Like, you wouldn't have the innovations in the outboard motors if there wasn't the opportunity to sell those outboard motors. So you created a a a model, not only for you to make money and to continue to do what you like to do, but for all of the stuff that's surrounding us, an opportunity to sell it, an opportunity for a company like Bass Pro Shops to get started and move on, an opportunity for Walmart, an opportunity for all of these different things. You created that, and, I've been fortunate enough just to just to kinda be strolling along in the in the shadow. You paved the road, and and we're just walking along behind it. But I wanna thank you.

Bill Dance: Thank you,

Tom Rowland: bud. I I value you as a friend and a mentor.

Bill Dance: Thank you. A good buddy of mine. You and Rich are two of my favorites and always have been.

Tom Rowland: Well, thank

Bill Dance: you, Padma. I appreciate and honored to do this with you. Thank you, Padma.

101:28 · A Life Well Lived

Tom Rowland: Hey. I hope you enjoyed that episode with Bill Dance. We're gonna share some of my favorite ones over the next couple of weeks. Make sure you subscribe to the channel. And if you have any questions or comments, you can leave them in the comments below or you can text me directly. (305) 930-7346. That's it. We'll see you next week.