Al Foss’ tournament reel, serial no. A-127

[Mike N]

Last year I was lucky enough to acquire a tournament casting reel Serial No. A-127 from ORCA VP Matt Wickham that had been owned and “modified” by Al Foss and given to tournament caster Bud Zollner in 1936 by Mr. Foss at the Ohio State Casting Championship in Columbus. Mr. Zollner wrote that he continued to use this tournament casting reel “successfully for several years afterwards.”

The provenance letters Matt shared with me appear below. Fifty years later, in 1985, Mr. Zollner sold the reel to Jim Frazier of Louisville, Kentucky. In 1997, Mr. Frazier sold the reel to Mike Sims of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I am grateful Matt was willing to let me be the latest custodian. The Serial No. A-127 is mentioned in the letters and is stamped on the reel foot.

[Mike N]

It is the same reel that Kevin Virden documents at page 224 of his excellent book on Foss “as having been refurbished by Foss himself,” before being gifted to tournament caster Bud Zollner in 1936.




The reel was sold at Lang’s in 2017.

[RonG]

That's a really cool reel not only by the nature of the reel itself, but also by the provenance that came with it.