After a highly-successful 13-year run as the Lee King Benefit Tournament, which raised thousands of dollars to help fund research on Niemann-Pick disease, the popular tournament on Lake Eufaula has a new goal and will undergo a name change after Saturday’s tournament.

After fighting an heroic battle with Niemann-Pick disease, a rare terminal degenerative disease for which there is no cure, Lee King, the young man who lent his name to the Lee King Buddy Benefit Tournament on Lake Eufaula, died in 2011 at the age of 20. Niemann-Pick is a genetic, cholesterol storage disorder that primarily strikes children, with death usually occurring before or during adolescence.

“From now on the tournament will be known as the Alabama Children’s Classic Bass Tournament,” said Sam Williams, a local fishing guide who founded the Lee King Tournament. “The King Family wanted me to stop the tournament last year, but I told them the fishermen wanted to make it a memorial tournament.”

Williams said the King Family wanted Lee’s name taken off the tournament while they were grieving. He asked them to give him a year to make the change.

“We researched many options and prayed a lot,” he said. “We have finalized a partnership with Children’s of Alabama Hospital, which is the only free standing hospital in Alabama dedicated solely to caring for children.”

Children’s of Alabama Hospital, located in Birmingham, treats all children, regardless of their family’s ability to pay. In 2012, the hospital received more than 650,000 patient visits at its clinics and admitted nearly 14,000 for treatment.

To jump start the change to Children’s of Alabama, Williams, who operates a tax-exempt organization to accept donations, is holding a raffle for a bull red inshore fishing trip in Destin, Fla., for three people. The winner of the drawing, plus two guests, will receive an expense-paid bay fishing trip with Capt. Daniel Pike, a television fishing show personality who operates the Inshore Angler® Fishing Guide Service in Destin. The trip includes a free two-night stay at Pelican Beach Resorts in Destin.

With the final Lee King tournament coming up Saturday, Williams said he has over 100 boats registered by mid-week, but a lot of local fishermen usually hold off until the last minute to enter.

“We know we will be over the 140-150 mark, but we are hoping to get 200 boats,” he said, adding that competitors should catch a lot of fish Saturday.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if it did not take between 18 and 24 pounds to win Saturday,” he said. “We had a benefit tournament for high school kids last weekend. It took 13 pounds to win and the fish were way off.”

The bite has been back and forth, he said, because the weather keeps changing and the water temperature is fluctuating

“We got out there one morning and the water temperature was 72-73 degrees. We got back to those same places in the afternoon and it was 82 to 84 degrees,” he said.

“The topwater bite is good early in the morning The guys who are working deep water will be catching them on heavy spinnerbaits, Ledgebusters, deep running crankbaits and Carolina rigs. Jig fishing is on fire right now. The crawfish are in the red stage and guys are finding them in their live wells and weigh-in sacks,” he said. “And the guys who know where the trash piles are will bring in some decent fish, too.”

Lee King Benefit Tournament

Sat, Jun 8, 2013

Lake Eufaula

Lakepoint Resort State Park

CALL POLLY WILLIAMS 334-687-6266

www.leekingbenefit.org