An Unexpected Recognition
from The Fishing Wire
by Jim Shepherd
There are several awards the 56 anglers in the 2015 Bassmaster Classic were competing for this past weekend in Greenville, South Carolina, but no one was ready for an award ceremony at Friday’s weigh-in. After all, the three-day tournament didn’t conclude until yesterday.
But there was a recognition given to 15 year professional David Walker of Sevierville, Tennessee that took Walker, his fellow competitors and the spectators in attendance by surprise. Granted, Walker earned his much-deserved recognition on Hartwell Lake – but he did it during the final day of practice on Sunday, February 15.
While using the final day of practice fishing before the lake was closed to the Bassmaster competitors, Walker was upstream of Hartwell Dam and he noticed something floating in the 40-degree water. “It kinda looked strange,” Walker said, “but there was a boat ramp with people staring out at whatever it was about 300-400 yards offshore.”
When sheriff’s deputies flashed their lights at him, Walker decided to pull up his trolling motor and go check the object out.
What Walker thought was “an object floating in the water” was a very large, very tired Brandon Ardister. His boat had sunk several hundred yards offshore, leaving a very large, very cold and increasingly disoriented grownup to desperately try to stay afloat holding onto a child’s life preserver.
“He was making motions like he was swimming,” Walker related, “but he wasn’t going anywhere, and he looked to be in the early stages of hypothermia.”
As Walker cut off his main engine and used his trolling motor to approach Ardister he said his first comment was “well you picked a helluva day to go for a swim.”
Ardister told me he managed to tell Walker his boat had suddenly sunk, but he also realized that, barring something happening, he was probably only minutes from dying- one year to the day since the death of his mother.
Walker, on the other hand, had no intention of allowing Ardister to drown. “I knew I had to get him out of the water,” Walker related, “but I wasn’t sure how I’d do that -because he is a big guy. ”
Talking to keep Ardister engaged, Walker dropped down the rear ladder on his Ranger fishing boat and told the man he needed to use it to climb in. But the exhausted, cold and now only barely conscious, Ardister told Walker he’d hold the ladder and Walker could just ” tow him to shore.”
Walker realized Ardister was probably too-far gone to survive that. So, he related, ” told him you have GOT to get into this boat- now.” To help, Walker sat down on his back deck, dug in his heels and grabbed the fully dressed Ardister.
“He’s a big, strong guy,” Walker said, “and it took a couple of tries, but we finally got him past the tipping point where he sorta arm crawled in.”
Walker gets award
At that point, Walker raced the rapidly cooling Ardister to shore where sheriff’s deputies and an ambulance were waiting. After giving his name to a deputy, Walked went back to fishing, thinking the matter closed.
On Friday, he surprised by a formal recognition in the form of the Army’s Certificate of Appreciation presented by Savannah District Army Corps of Engineers commander Col. Thomas J. Tickner- accompanies by Brandon Ardister- the man Walker saved.
During the formal presentation, Col. Tickner explained the award was created by the Department of the Army to recognize civilians for accomplishments the Army felt were worthy of recognition.
“While we aren’t responsible for safety on the lake,” he explained, “but we appreciate the special actions taken by Mr. Walker. He saved another person’s life – but the impact of his saving a large man from freezing waters could potentially remind others to wear their life jackets, not just carry them on their boats. That could save several lives in the future as well.”
Afterwards, a surprised but obviously pleased, Walker chatted and posed for a seemingly endless stream of pictures standing alongside the man he’d saved. Several times during their time together, Walker could be heard telling Ardister how glad he was Ardister decided to come to the weigh-in ceremonies.
“I appreciate your being willing to share the story,” Walker said, “not everyone would want to do that.”
Very quiet and soft-spoken, Ardister didn’t seem especially comfortable with the situation, but told me that he hoped his own near-death experience in familiar waters with would remind other boaters that anytime is the right time to be wearing a life jacket.
Because, he said, “you never know what might happen-and not everyone would be so lucky as to have a David Walker nearby.”
Unfortunately for Walker, the big weight he pulled from Hartwell last Sunday proved to be his biggest catch of the Classic. But it is also a memory he says will always make the 2015 Bassmaster Classic special to him.