Tim Smith sits in the new Triton TR-18 bass boat he won throug
Union Sportsmen’s Alliance awards boat, fishing day with Triton founder
THANKS TO HIS membership in the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance, Boilermaker Tim Smith (Local 13, Philadelphia) is the proud new owner of a U.S.-made Triton TR-18 bass boat with a union-made Mercury engine worth more than $22,000. The boat was a prize he earned through his membership with the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance — USA is a hunting, fishing, and conservation organization for union members, retirees, and their families.
Smith, who joined the Boilermakers union in 1974 and has been a member of Local 13 since 2008, is an avid fisherman. He had an application for USA on his desk for about a year, when his business agent suggested Smith just go ahead and join.
“You get a free knife, a magazine, and I figured what the heck,” Smith said. While it may have taken him a long time to join the USA, it took him no time at all for his membership to pay off. About six months after mailing the application, he received a call from the USA and was told he had won the boat.
Smith thought it was a joke until he looked at the USA Web site and saw a photo of a previous year’s winner. Then he received a call from International President Newton Jones congratulating him on his good luck.
Part of his Triton boat prize package was an all-expense-paid trip to Tennessee to spend a day bass fishing with Triton founder and CEO Earl Bentz, who took some of the morning’s catch and cooked lunch for Smith at his cabin.
Smith is looking forward to getting his boat back home and into Pennsylvania rivers, where he will fish with his sons and union buddies.
For more information on the USA, visit their Web site at www.unionsportsmen.org or call them toll-free at 1-877-USA-2211.
