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 CLAY DYER CASTS NO DOUBTS AS TO THE SOURCE OF HIS STRENGTH AS HE OVERCOMES SOME MAJOR OBSTACLES TO SUCCEED IN FISHING
BY RANDALL MURPHREE
Sportsspectrum.com
Small stature, huge heart, phenomenal fisherman, committed Christian. That's Clay Dyer, 28-year-old professional bass angler who has already spent a decade in the sport.
It's a pretty impressive record for a man of his age, but he keeps the boat between the banks, maintaining a clear focus and genuine humility.
But there's another unique feature about this young angler. He'd just as soon have everybody forget about it, but that's hard to do because it's a big part of his remarkable story. This pro athlete is 3'4" and weighs in at 85 pounds.
Dyer was born without legs and without a left arm. His right arm ends at the elbow. He has learned to take advantage of his small stature--not to seek sympathy but to share his faith and to demonstrate that people can be successful no matter what obstacles they face.
Dyer ties his lures, casts his line, drives his boat, pulls in his catches, and competes with the big boys. He's not precise with the numbers, but he thinks he's been in about 350 tournaments and taken home 30 wins, plus about 20 more Top 10 finishes. "It's a good thing I don't have to count 'em on my fingers and toes!" he says. The remark is typical of Clay's sense of humor.
Desire To Compete
"I've always been a dogged competitor," Dyer says. "I don't like getting beat--I call it being behind when the time runs out." Even as a kid, he says, he knew he would like to do something competitive with his life.
Rev. Eddie Davidson, Clay's pastor at Hamilton (Alabama) First Baptist Church, says Dyer is, indeed, a competitor. Furthermore, the fisherman's hometown friends don't see him as having a handicap. "You sit down and eat dinner beside him, and he takes his half-arm and flips his fork up to his mouth," Davidson says. "He dials his cell phone with his chin, and he ties his fishing lures."
That competitive nature led Dyer to try out for--and make--the junior high baseball team at Hamilton High School. He was a catcher and he played first base so he wouldn't have to move around too much, and he had a designated runner when he was at bat.
As a youngster, Dyer grew to love fishing. His granddad spent a lot of time helping Clay find ways to do the things other boys did. He took him hunting and taught him how to fish in the little pond beside the Dyer home on the Buttahatchee River just outside Hamilton.
"If I can, you can" is one of Clay's favorite slogans. His grandfather helped him cultivate that "I can" spirit that made him think he could play baseball and even be a professional athlete. . . . | 
