Green Has Experience of Lifetime at Cup
Marshall winner Leroy Green leaves Lake Hamilton with some special memories
Winning $2,500 might be the highlight of a trip for a lot of people, but for Leroy Green, winner of the FLW Tour Marshal program at the 2019 FLW Cup on Lake Hamilton, the cash prize was secondary to the relationships he forged out on the water.
Green, a technical temperature specialist with Aggreko in Pearland, Texas, won the FLW Tour Marshal program with a total combined weight of 30 pounds, 2 ounces. He was paired with winner Bryan Thrift (15-3) on day one and third-place finisher Dakota Ebare (14-15) on day two, both of whom weighed in the largest limit of the day on the days Green was with them in the boat.
“Thrift is a good angler,” he says. “You learn a lot because Thrift fishes different than anybody else. He had 30 rods on the boat. He would fish the same spot with different baits, and I learned a lot on technique. He’s an awesome fisherman. The baits, how he did it, what he was doing; I watched him intently. And he was vocal in telling me some of the things.”
The 56-year-old fishes T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League tournaments as a boater and Costa FLW Series Southwestern Division events as a co-angler, and he’s always looking to learn how to be a better angler. Watching Thrift fish from a couple arm lengths away is a heck of a way to do that.
But riding along with Ebare on day two was Green’s highlight of the tournament, largely due to the connection the two forged in just one day on Lake Hamilton. As Green describes it, he and Ebare just clicked.
“Dakota and me, we kind of had the same chemistry, the same personalities,” he explains. “We had a hell of a lot of fun. We kept it light. We got to show our faith a little bit in our Lord and laugh a little bit, and it was just good. Being with Dakota was probably one of my favorite fishing highlights. It’s in the top three. The funny thing about it is, even if he wouldn’t have caught the fish, it would have still been a top highlight, because he is an awesome, awesome guy.”
Green also marshaled for Josh Douglas (ninth place) on day three and had similarly complimentary things to say about the Isle, Minn., pro.
“I was with him [Douglas] the last day,” Green says. “He was really good, because he would call me up there and show me the Lowrance LiveSight and how it worked and what he was looking at and stuff. He was awesome.
“He fished harder than anybody I knew. There was no give up in him, even with that hot 112 sweltering heat index, there was no give up. He fished all the way up until 3:50 that day until we had to leave, and he always had a good attitude. He talked to the spectators a lot, and the spectators really loved him. He took time to talk to them. He was amazing also.”
Douglas’ tutorial on his electronics gave Green an idea about how he wants to spend his $2,500 winnings.
“I’m thinking about buying the Lowrance LiveSight,” he says. “I can’t wait to get that.”
His wife, Karri, doesn’t seem to mind. He’s already told her he needs to get his hands on it, and he picked a good time to do it, considering Karri joined him on the trip to Hot Springs – a 6 1/2-hour drive from Anderson, Texas – and had a great time herself.
“She came up and made the trip and bought some FLW gear up there – T-shirts and a hoodie – and enjoyed shopping around in the little markets and stuff,” Leroy adds. “We had a great time.”
Leroy marshaled at the FLW Tour events on both Sam Rayburn and Grand, and he plans to be involved in the program next year as well. In fact, he’s already tried to sign up for the Tour’s opener on Rayburn in January.
“I am going to do this next year,” he says. “I’ve already tried to call and get my name in the hat.”
Marshal prizewinners
1. Leroy Green – Anderson, Texas – 30-2 – $2,500
2. Terry Neal – Magnolia, Ark. – 26-15 – $1,000
3. Joel Newman – North Little Rock, Ark. – 24-3 – $750
4. Steven Stroud – Conway, Ark. – 24-1 – $500
5. Kevin Raposo – Doniphan, Mo. – 22-1 – $250
6. James Grizzle – Many, La. – 21-8 – $100
7. Russell Roland – Forney, Texas – 21-6 – $100
8. Sirron Bailey – De Kalb, Texas – 21-3 – $100
9. Ricky Retzlaff – Brookeland, Texas – 21-0 – $100
10. Marc Henderson – Evansville, Ind. – 20-14 – $100