For a lot of people in Port O’Connor, POCO BUENO was just another fishing tournament for the super rich with huge boats and a lot of money! This would have been its fiftieth year! It had all the fancy parties and some of the biggest weigh-ins we had ever seen. It was a full week of a full town with all that comes alongside that – full restaurants, Speedy Stop brimming over, and yes, much more traffic.
When I moved here in 1995, I had never heard of POCO BUENO. The first I heard of it was a request from someone to go and help glean fish for some organization that helped feed needy people. Even since I was in high school, I have given my lfe to helping people, so this was right down my street! I had no idea of the size of a marlin or tuna or even the size of the “row boats” that I had read about in “The Old Man and the Sea.” The book version made the boat appear to be larger than the marlin, but I am sure I have seen reality.
In 1996, we were approached about taking the responsibility over for gleaning the fish. It was a huge undertaking and we did not have adequate help. With our inexperience and with a lack of proper equipment, we struggled each year to provide fresh fish for needy people. It was not long before we had many volunteers and everything we needed to make the task much easier. Yes, there have been Friday and Saturday evenings when we were filleting fish and putting away gleaned food from the steam tables until after midnight and still keeping up with Sunday services. We have had many who have come to the Chapel and were so tired from the long hours that they may have missed a few notes and a few stories from my message. But, the focus has always been on not allowing any food or fish go to waste!
None of our efforts would have been possible if it were not for the generosity of the Fondren family. Several years ago I got to interview the senior Mr. Fondren at his Port O’Connor home. As we sat on his porch on the Intracoastal Waterway, he told me of the beginnings. He explained that he and some of his closest friends wanted to provide an invitational tournament that would bring business and stimulate the economy of Port O’Connor. In the beginning, Mrs. Fondren cooked hamburgers for the evening meals. Everyone was expected to take care of their own catch. They had additional games and allowed the townspeople to enter these games – like rope walking. He admitted that a few fellows would occasionally “get out of hand,” but the scope of the tournament was to just have a good time.
As more and more people became aware of the great time those who entered the POCO BUENO tournament were having, they wanted to join in the festivities. It was all had at the Alligator Head compound until it just simply outgrew the facilities. The weigh-in was moved to the Fishing Center and people would gather early and stay late to catch a glimpse of the catch, hoping to see the “Biggest Fish”! The Friday night weigh-in would last until midnight, and people would mingle around the scales for a breathtaking event of a large boat bearing a huge fish coming to set a new record.
We have never tired to keep record of all the tournaments nor the winning boats and their captains, but I am sure that every single person in the winner’s circle remember the fish, what time it was caught, and its exact weight. What I do recall vividly are the fishermen who would bring just one fish to weigh. When asked to explain why they would stand in the long line to simply bring in one fish, we would be told that “my one fish will help feed a single meal for a needy family and that is what I think this tournament is all about!”
Last year, our record shows that at least 4,182 pounds of fish was donated to the Chapel from this one tournament. We have always estimated that each fish would have at least 1/2 of its weight in eatable food. Since we believe a meal to be about 1/2 pounds per person, we say that POCO BUENO fed over 4,000 people this past year! How could a small congregation from the Chapel ever provide enough food to feed 4,000 people – it took Jesus finding a boy’s lunch to feed that many, and we consider that a miracle!
Fisherman’s Chapel has always felt the same miracle year after year! Yes, we did not “The Divine” supplement a fish fry, but our hard working, dedicated workers, with strength from our Lord, and an enormous desire to help needy families accomplished such a feat year after year!
We will miss POCO BUENO at the Chapel and we pledge our continued love and prayers to the Fondren family, who got us started in the fish gleaning ministry. We serve several tournaments each year and sincerely appreciate all of our friends who volunteer again and again and, of course, the fishermen who work hard to catch the fish that are donated to us!
