CLAYTON, NEW YORK — The first-ever Bassmaster Randy Moss Pro Football Hall of Fame Pro-Am wrapped Monday on the St. Lawrence River in Clayton, New York. And, surprisingly enough, it wasn’t Randy Moss who took home the trophy.
The event paired eight Hall of Famers with eight Bassmaster Elite pros for a single day on the water.
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Here’s how the football side of the field stacked up.
The champion: Rickey Jackson
Super Bowl XXIX champion linebacker Rickey Jackson, paired with two-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier John Garrett, won the whole thing with 21 pounds, 10 ounces.
Jackson, a Pahokee, Fla., native who grew up around Lake Okeechobee, compared the win to the biggest stage he knows: “I mean, it’s kind of like winning the Super Bowl.”
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Minus the free trip to Disney World, of course.
Runner-up: Joe Thomas backed up the big talk
Joe Thomas spent tournament week loudly promising a win and needling Randy Moss over the tournament bearing his name.
“I would say these guys are trembling in their boots because I am by far the most experienced and talented of the bass fishermen here, pros included,” Thomas (jokingly, we think) told OutKick Outdoors on the dock just before launch. “I mean, it’s just a matter of when we collect our prize money and the trophy at this point.
He and his partner, Jay Przekurat, nearly made good on the promise, too, finishing second at 21-5, just 5 ounces short of the win.
Thomas kept the trash talk going all the way to the scale: “It would feel great to snatch that right from Randy Moss because he’s been cheating a little bit… but as you can see, when you’re from Wisconsin, you guys can cheat all you want, Randy Moss. The real fishermen are right here. We’ll take care of it.”
Third place: Kevin Mawae needs a boat
Offensive lineman Kevin Mawae finished third at 20-6 alongside Robert Gee. Mawae turned out to be no stranger to the sport, revealing he lives near Toledo Bend Reservoir. It’s one of the top bass fisheries in the country, and he spends plenty of time there.
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Asked if he was ready to join the pro tour, Mawae explained that he still needed three things: his wife’s blessing, sponsors and a boat.
“You don’t have to have a boat,” he said. “But you gotta make sure you’re friendly with a neighbor who does.”
Words of wisdom from the Hall of Famer there.
Fourth place: Dave Robinson’s beef jerky gambit
Packers legend Dave Robinson, who won the first two Super Bowls under Vince Lombardi, finished fourth at 17-15 with 2024 Bassmaster Classic champion Justin Hamner. Robinson came into the week with tremendously low expectations for himself. When we asked him to rate his confidence ahead of the tournament, Robinson gave his own fishing skills a “negative two” out of 10. But he still predicted a win.
On the water, Hamner revealed Robinson tried a creative approach to baiting his hook: “He had beef jerky on the hook. I don’t know if that’s cheating or not, but I just wanted to let y’all know.”
It didn’t work — no fish were caught on the jerky — but it was worth a shot.
Fifth place: Ronde Barber is still thinking about football
Cornerback Ronde Barber and Elite pro Tucker Smith finished fifth at 16-14. When asked what position his partner could play in the NFL, Barber tasked him to cover Randy Moss.
“He’s going to play Nickelback next to me,” Barber said. “He’s going to be my backup.”
Way, way, way back, B.A.S.S. emcee Dave Mercer noted.
Sixth place: Robert Brazile, aka “Doctor Doom”
Robert Brazile, competing under his old NFL nickname “Doctor Doom” alongside partner Tyler Williams, finished sixth at 14-3.
Together, they were “Doctor Doom and the Barefoot Bandit.” If there’s ever been a better name for a fishing duo, we’ve certainly never heard it.
Brazile leaned into his father’s old fishing wisdom, explaining, “The best way to fish is to close your mouth.” Which really just sounds like his dad wanted some peace and quiet on the water.
Still, the advice stuck.
“I never thought I could enjoy something more than football,” Brazile concluded. “This is better than football.”
The man behind the event: Randy Moss
Fishing with 2025 Bassmaster Classic champion Easton Fothergill, Moss weighed in at 13-11, good for seventh place. Fothergill, who grew up in Minnesota idolizing Moss, said his partner held his own on the water, using forward-facing sonar to locate fish sitting 70 to 90 feet deep.
Moss put this event together specifically to give his Hall of Fame brothers an experience he fell in love with roughly two decades ago.
“I just wanted to team up, bring the two together, and see if we can put something on for years to come,” Moss told OutKick Outdoors before the tournament. “This is the first annual, and I look forward to it.”
He described the event as a way to pull his fellow Hall of Famers out of the football-only orbit they usually share once a year at induction, and into something new. And the beauty of the St. Lawrence River in Clayton was an easy selling point.
“Me being a country boy,” Moss said, “just being around water just makes me feel at home.”
Eighth place, but not empty-handed: Calvin Johnson
Megatron and Elite pro Brandon Palaniuk finished last as a team at 11-13 — but still walked away with the day’s Phoenix Boats Big Bass award anyway, boating a 7-pound smallmouth.
Johnson, ever humble about it, downplayed his own role.
“I was just fishing today. I wasn’t catching.”
It happens like that sometimes. But he did admit the day left an impression.
“This is truly a one-of-a-kind experience for me,” Johnson said. “I was talking to Brandon, I was like, ‘Dang man, you got me thinking about getting a boat now.'”
If Monday was any indication, Megatron won’t be the only one.
Moss set out to build something his fellow Hall of Famers would fall in love with the same way he did. And based on the reactions up and down the dock, it worked.
Next year, something tells me there’ll be more than just eight teams.
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