I remember Dale from playing football with him at Broughton. He was always a team player, always that gentle giant who always had a good thing to say about everyone. After high school Dale was living in the Morehead City area where he had gone to work for N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries. He became the official weigh master for all of the big game fishing tournaments along the North Carolina coast. I remember fishing the Big Rock one year and Dale approached the boat as I was working on some gear. In that deep baritone voice I heard "Permission to come aboard, Captain." I turned and there stood Dale with that boyish grin on his face. Dale had become quite a legend along the coast and was well respected in the fishing community. Until the end, Dale enjoyed seeing his old high school friends. God bless him, I still miss him. He left us way too soon.
Dale worked for the NC Marine Fisheries for 29 years. Starting as the purchasing agent he later got the jod as a marine bioligist with the fisheries. For years he headed the King Makeral tagging program. Such a bad job that with grant money from the National Fisheries he had to go fishing, catch king makeral, weigh them, measure them, tag them, and then release them. lots of fish were years later and reweighed and measured, On a sportfisherman out of Hatteras one day they tagged and released over 300 king makeral with a crew of 4.
For over 20 years he was the Weighmaster for the King Makeral and Marlin tournaments. A job he lived daily. At the request of Gov. Jim Martin he created and ran the NC Governors Cup Marlin Tournaments and Board of Directors of THE BIG ROCK Marlin Tournament. In the mid 90's he was awarded "CONSERVATIONIST of the YEAR" by the BILLFISH FOUNDATION.
Dale was diagnosed with small cell carcinoma (lung cancer) in January of 2002. He was so dedicated to the marlin tournaments that he weighed in fish on Monday, had a friend take him to Mothers house(in Pittsboro) on Monday night for a treatment at the Koman Cancer center at UNC on Tuesday. Was at the weighin on Wednesday back in Morehead City. After a coragous fight he died October 2 2002.
Thad Ellington
I remember Dale from playing football with him at Broughton. He was always a team player, always that gentle giant who always had a good thing to say about everyone. After high school Dale was living in the Morehead City area where he had gone to work for N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries. He became the official weigh master for all of the big game fishing tournaments along the North Carolina coast. I remember fishing the Big Rock one year and Dale approached the boat as I was working on some gear. In that deep baritone voice I heard "Permission to come aboard, Captain." I turned and there stood Dale with that boyish grin on his face. Dale had become quite a legend along the coast and was well respected in the fishing community. Until the end, Dale enjoyed seeing his old high school friends. God bless him, I still miss him. He left us way too soon.
Ed Ward
Dale worked for the NC Marine Fisheries for 29 years. Starting as the purchasing agent he later got the jod as a marine bioligist with the fisheries. For years he headed the King Makeral tagging program. Such a bad job that with grant money from the National Fisheries he had to go fishing, catch king makeral, weigh them, measure them, tag them, and then release them. lots of fish were years later and reweighed and measured, On a sportfisherman out of Hatteras one day they tagged and released over 300 king makeral with a crew of 4.
For over 20 years he was the Weighmaster for the King Makeral and Marlin tournaments. A job he lived daily. At the request of Gov. Jim Martin he created and ran the NC Governors Cup Marlin Tournaments and Board of Directors of THE BIG ROCK Marlin Tournament. In the mid 90's he was awarded "CONSERVATIONIST of the YEAR" by the BILLFISH FOUNDATION.
Dale was diagnosed with small cell carcinoma (lung cancer) in January of 2002. He was so dedicated to the marlin tournaments that he weighed in fish on Monday, had a friend take him to Mothers house(in Pittsboro) on Monday night for a treatment at the Koman Cancer center at UNC on Tuesday. Was at the weighin on Wednesday back in Morehead City. After a coragous fight he died October 2 2002.
Ed Ward,
Big Brother