By Nacogdoches Miller

Sun Intern

George Rogers Clark High School bass fisherman Colby Kerr signed to fish competitively at Kentucky Christian University last week.

Kerr is the first Cardinal graduate in four years to sign a fishing scholarship and the first from GRC to ink with KCU.

“This is pretty historical for Kentucky Christian University,” KCU’s head fishing coach Brian Slone said. “This is the first year of the bass fishing program, which is the 100th anniversary of KCU.”

Slone said this year’s recruits will set the bar high for the years to come as the school becomes more involved with the sport.

“The goal is to bring another national championship to Kentucky Christin College,” Slone said.

Kerr said he has been fishing or hunting for as long as he can remember and said his grandfather, Lee Kerr instilled that passion in him.

“I caught my very first fish with him and I’ve just had an amazing life with him,” Kerr said after sighing his $43,000 scholarship surrounded by family, friends and teammates.

Friends and family took photos and video on their phones as Kerr’s father, Brent, laughed saying he wasn’t sure at first it would last long.

“I thought a couple mornings of getting up early, and this will be done,” he said with a laugh. “It’s been a really good time.”

Kerr said his parents made him sign up for a sport during his freshman year of high school. He found out there was a bass fishing team that had just started a year before.

“So my freshman year, I asked one of my buddies I fish with all the time, Robert Poe, if he wanted to be partners on a team,” he said.

At first, Kerr said, he thought it was a little boring, but once he found his competitive drive, it “just took it away and ever since I haven’t quit.”

Kerr said he was excited to sign on and meet his partners in the coming weeks.

“I’m ready to go on and fulfill my goal of being a college athlete and especially doing the sport I love to do today which is bass fishing,” he said.

As he prepares to cast out in the coming weeks to chase his dreams, he hopes to take it as far as possible.

“I really want to try and go pro in fishing but, we’ll just see how these four years in college go, and if they go great, then I’ll try to take another step up,” he said.