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Caroline grad lives to fish Date published: 7/25/2009
BY TAFT COGHILL JR. When Jelani Hennessy was 4 years old, his father took him fishing for the first time. Hennessy's reel became tangled and James Hennessy started to unravel it. That's when Hennessy crept over to pick up his father's reel and cast the line into a stream on the Potomac River. In one try, Hennessy caught his first fish. "It was just pure excitement," Hennessy recalled. "That was it for me. I was hooked for the rest of my life." Hennessy, 18, said he has gone fishing every weekend since that day. Now the 2009 Caroline High School grad is the youngest competitor on the Bassmaster Open professional tour. He has competed in four events this season, with five remaining. "I don't look at myself as being the youngest out there," Hennessy said. "I just consider myself another fisherman." As a black teenager, Hennessy is far from the norm on a tour dominated by middle-age white men. He's one of three blacks on the tour. Hennessy turned professional at 17 and has been featured in several outdoors magazines. "This has been his life," said his mother, Angela Cates. "This is all he's known since he was 4 years old." That may be an understatement. After the first outing with his father, Hennessy began reading books on fishing and viewing the videos ordered by his mother. He read the books every chance he got, including en route to church. When he was 8 years old, Hennessy saw competitive bass fishing on ESPN and decided on that as a career. "His tenacity and drive to be the best he can be in the sport of bass fishing is amazing for his age," said Mac McManus, whose auto repair company, Mac's Service Center, sponsors Hennessy. "Most young adults do not want to work as hard as he does." Cates initially didn't want Hennessy to pursue bass fishing as a career. She attempted to steer him in other directions because she knew little about the sport. She first encouraged Hennessy to try karate. He achieved Purple Belt status, but refused to spar against girls. "He would just sit there, and they would beat the living stink out of him," Cates said. So Cates encouraged Hennessy to try basketball, football and bowling. He enjoyed all three, but fishing remained his passion.
Read more stories about Caroline Date published: 7/25/2009
Thanks for the report! Here's to you, Jelani!
Jelani! Follow your dreams - and glad to see you have a backup too! =)
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