My Biggest Fan!

My career as an aspiring tournament fisherman has been anything but easy. There have been so many ups and downs but somehow I have always managed to hang in there. A lot of my success can be contributed to my friends and family. I have had the good fortune to meet some really great people along the way that have helped me in one form or another. A little more than two years ago I met a man that lived down the street from me. I had known him all my life but never actually knew him well. He was an older gentleman that had been bound to a wheel chair due to Lou Gehrig’s disease. My father in law helped him on a daily basis and I helped out when he was busy. Not long after I met him it became a daily routine of helping him out of his wheel chair and putting him to bed. Every day and night I was over at his house. I would often walk over to his house to watch basketball or whatever sport was on the television. We would sit and talk sports because he loved them with a passion. He quickly learned that I loved to fish as much as he loved golf which was his favorite sport. He knew that I was trying to make a career out of so he took it upon himself to become my biggest fan. He was the guy that always rooted for the underdog. And that was me. He always had a few words of encouragement for me before I would leave to go to the next tournament. I would always call him and tell him how my practice was going and he would watch the internet to see how I was doing. Surprisingly the 2007 season was a great one. He was so proud of me. He would tell me things like, “Keep your head up and never lose your drive. One day you will get that break you need.” He was the one person that kept me going even when I would get down. I told him that if I make the Bassmaster Classic that I was going to do whatever it took to get him there. He wanted me to make it so bad. After I came back from the Wildcard I went over and told him about it. He had watched it on the internet. He looked at me and said, “You will get them next year. I just know it.” His body was wasting away before my eyes but his mind was as sharp as ever. I knew that our time together was dwindling but I was still not prepared for what happened. On December 18th I got a phone call from my wife that an ambulance had taken him to the hospital. I raced home and headed out to the emergency room. By the time I got to the hospital I had found out that he had had a massive heart attack. I went to his room where his wife stood over him holding his hand. She told me that he could still here me but that it would not be long. I grabbed his hand and leaned over him. I told him thank you for everything he has done for me and that I was going to make it for him. I did not want to let him go but I knew that it was his time. Around 4:30 p.m. Butch Stiegman took his last breath. He will be missed by many. He touched so many people’s lives in so many different ways. The words he spoke to me are beyond any value. I will miss him dearly. Butch was my friend and my biggest fan.