88. Denny Brauer
Professional bass angler / Seward / Born: 1949
QUICK FACTS:
Best moment as an athlete: Although Brauer has won 15 tournaments on the BASS circuit, his proudest moment came in 1996 when son Chad Brauer won his first BASS tourney in his rookie year on the tour.
Denny Brauer was 4 when his father died, and two uncles introduced him to fishing. But fishing played second fiddle to football, basketball and track when he reached high school.
He was done with football after a knee injury his senior year. After graduation from Seward in 1967, he attended Kearney State College for one year.
"I did OK in the fall semester," Brauer said, "but during the spring semester we were at the sand pits fishing."
Brauer quit school and got a job in Lincoln as a bricklayer. He spent the next 12 years as a union mason.
The passion for fishing grew after he and wife Shirley were married. He helped start the Blue Valley Bass Club.
Brauer moved to the Lake of the Ozarks area in 1981 to begin his professional angling career. He won the Bass-masters Classic -- the world's premier fishing tournament -- in 1998.
-- Larry Porter
QUICK FACTS:
Best moment as an athlete: Although Brauer has won 15 tournaments on the BASS circuit, his proudest moment came in 1996 when son Chad Brauer won his first BASS tourney in his rookie year on the tour.
