Story By: Nick Dumke
MONTEVALLO, Ala. –
On October 2nd, dreams became a reality for one special college angler. Easton Fothergill, a senior at the University of Montevallo, competed in the Bassmaster College Classic Bracket. After three days of tough competition, Fothergill edged out the other seven anglers for the coveted title of being the “College Bracket Champion.”
This was a dream for Fothergill since he was in high school, and it is something he says he will never forget.
“Winning the bracket means the absolute world to me; this is something I’ve dreamed about for years and I’m so lucky for this to all finally come together”
Easton Fothergill
Although Fothergill’s road to get to this tournament was no easy task, he was faced with one of his biggest challenges ever only a month before.
The beginning of this incredible story starts at the first regular season event for the Bassmaster College Trail. This event marked the official start to a new year, being one of the four events of the season. The Bassmaster season spanned from early January to the last event of the year ending in Louisiana in early May of 2023.
After an incredible season traveling from Florida to Virginia and everywhere in between, Fothergill and his partner earned the “Team of the Year” title. By winning this coveted title, he earned a spot in the Bassmaster College Classic Bracket. The Classic Bracket is the most notorious tournament in college fishing. The winner is given a new truck and boat and a check for $7,500. The champion also gets entry into the Bassmaster Opens, which is the tournament trail to qualify for the Elite Series, the top professional trail in competitive bass fishing. However, about a month before this tournament took place, Fothergill’s health took a turn for the worse.
It was the week of the Bassmaster National Championship on Pickwick Lake in Alabama. This tournament carries a lot of weight in the college fishing world, with the top three finishing teams earning a spot in the Classic Bracket.
On the morning of the second day of practice, Fothergill woke up with a pounding headache. “I get headaches all the time, “So I didn’t think much of it first”.
He took some ibuprofen and continued practicing for the tournament. Throughout the week, the pain got gradually worse, and nothing truly relieved the pain. With this being such a big tournament, Fothergill pushed on and worked through the headaches.
After the week was over, he edged out the competition for a 5th place finish out of almost 200 competitors. With the tournament now over, this marked the beginning of the new school year for him at the University of Montevallo. Fothergill moved back to school and tried to get rest and sleep off his pain, but with no relief.
A week after the tournament, Fothergill went to a quick-care doctor, where they gave him steroid shots and said to get more rest. After a few days of waiting, the pain became unbearable. Fothergill went to a hospital in Alabaster. He received several scans, and doctors discovered something much worse than Fothergill expected.
With the first scan, doctors could only tell so much with very little detail. At first glance, all they could see was a mass behind his left eye.
When these results came in, he was rushed to the UAB Hospital in Birmingham. Doctors there ran more advanced scans and came up with a plan of attack. Within six hours of the first scan, Fothergill went into emergency surgery to aspirate the mass. “Going from not knowing what’s happening to emergency surgery out of nowhere was pretty scary, the emotions I was feeling was nothing I have ever felt before.”
The surgery was successful, which now meant the start of recovery. Over the next couple weeks, Fothergill rested back home in Minnesota in hopes to be able to fish the Classic Bracket.
At first, it appeared that he wasn’t going to be healthy in time, but with just two days to spare, Fothergill was medically cleared to compete in the event. In a matter of four weeks, he went from IV lines and bed rest, to competing in the biggest event of college fishing.
Although recovering fully was a success of it’s own, things got even better for Fothergill. After three days of competition against the best in college fishing, Fothergill came out on top and won the Bassmaster College Classic Bracket.
“It was one of those things I’ll never forget,” he said. “I’ve been dreaming about this since high school”.
With this win under his belt, Fothergill now has to prepare for the Bassmaster Classic, which will take place on Grand Lake in March 2024. With this being arguably the biggest tournament in all of competitive bass fishing, Fothergill has some prepping to do.
“Competing for $300,000 as a college kid is hard for me wrap my head around,” he admitted. “It’s gonna be such a surreal experience, and I can’t wait”.
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