Tyler Pinor got a twinkle in his eyes as he smiled.
“I’m kind of a long story-teller, so bare with me.”
Tyler spoke about his passion for fishing that he has had since before he can remember. Feeling really good the day he reeled in the sunfish at the tournament, he decided to see what he could do to have more control over the tournament that brought joy to himself and those around him..
“It started out when I finished a tournament one year,” Tyler said, “and I decided, “OK,” what can I do to get a higher level role in this tournament.”
After the first tournament, Tyler decided he wanted to become the director of the special needs group, considering they had nobody in that position. Tyler was under pressure.
“A while back while riding in my school bus, Tyler asked me if he could have a tournament for special needs kids,” said Perry Whitney. “He was aware I ran a Bass Tournament for high school age youth. So 3 years ago I set out to make that happen.”
“Tyler finished in Second Place in the first tournament. Tyler then told me, ‘That it was my best day ever,’ said Whitney.
“Camp Friendship was so impressed with the funds that the tournament generated that it wanted to expand it to other Camps. The Tournament generates revenue to help all special needs kids that can’t afford the tuition fees to go to camp. At the same time Legacy has expanded from 2 to 12 tournaments in Minnesota. It was clear to me that I was in need of more help,” said Whitney.
As the tournament grew, Whitney could not take all of the job himself, so he chose Tyler to be sort of his right hand man.
“I knew the group for handicapped kids didn’t have a director so I was like, ‘There we go! There’s my opportunity!’,” said Tyler.
“Tyler agreed to become my new Director of Special Needs. Then started the training of my new director, Tyler in the mechanics of what he needs to do to put on a tournament,” said Whitney.
Whitney chose Pinor to be the director of the vision project and made him in charge of trying to raise money for the tournament; boss of the handicapped group.
“I stepped into a higher level role,” Tyler said, “and did something that a kid my age would not have the power to do.”
Although money was very hard to find and there was a possibility of having to stop the fishing tournament, Tyler was very persistent.
“I never ever gave up,” Tyer said.
“Tyler, not giving up, contacted the Hanover Lions Club to see if they could help a little,” Whitney said. “He called me late in the evening saying that the Hanover Lions were willing to help him. I could tell on the phone he gained hope.”
“It takes a lot of work, and a lot of late nights,” Tyler said, and I’m lovin’ every minute of it.”
The team of Whitney and Tyler were hard at work making letters filling out online applications to try and keep the tournament afloat.
“We finished mailing the letter out to all the businesses,” Whitney said. “Tyler wrote the letter by himself and emailed it to me for distribution.”
Tyler had to keep his head up while going through this long process, being the only way to keep his passion alive.
“I felt really, really good about all of this and it isn’t very often that a person like me would come in and take control.” said Tyler.
“Tyler’s Letter raised $1700 in all, which replaced the lost $1,000 from St Jude,” Whitney said. “Now both Tyler and I can relax and breathe a little easier as we recruit helpers to help him with the rest of the tournament.”
Things just started to work out for the team and they had raised enough money to continue the tournament.
“Perry is my bus driver and we are good friends to this day, we are lovin’ every minute of it, and I’m not gonna stop until I get this stuff done. A chance like this isn’t an everyday opportunity,” Tyler said.
“On Tuesday this week we were in Tyler’s Driveway, unloading Tyler from my school bus, when his Dad held a check up to the bus window. I knew exactly what the envelope was. Tyler received his very first successful grant check from Walmart Corp. Tyler communicated his needs for his project to one of the largest corporations in the world and they decided to help Tyler and his fellow anglers,” said Whitney, “Remember that successful people have failure often but confidence to work through it.”
-Maddi Yates & Kayla Koivisto
