Over a strawberry smoothie and underneath the rumble of a dance class, Curtis Fleming and I had brewed up quite a conversation. Our mid-afternoon meeting at Almost Heaven Desserts featured a menu of topics which covered travel, fly fishing, sports and family, among others.

 

I was excited to hear where his TV show, the “Fly Rod Chronicles” had taken him most recently, but I had plenty of other questions. I wanted to know why it was important for him to move back to Bridgeport and I also wanted to know what he thought about being a member of this year’s BHS Alumni & Friends Hall of Fame class.

 

Just like cream goes with coffee – and a hand-tied fly goes with a fly rod - his answers to those two questions were perfectly matched.

 

His family’s relocation to Bridgeport is so fresh that some of his clothes were still hanging in the backseat of his pick-up. But the decision to move back to the town where he grew up – and was inspired to make his passion his livelihood - is deeply rooted. Moving here from Winchester, Va. has been something he’s been steering toward for quite some time. Even more thrilling than a record catch is having his wife Shelly and daughters Laken and Autumn living in the same town where his parents Sandy and Sonny, brother Kevin and other family members still make their home.  

 

Making that move during the same year that he is being inducted into the BHS Alumni & Friends Hall of Fame just kind of brings it full circle.

 

Curtis said he was at the Indians’ first football game of the season. At Wayne Jamison Field, he watched the unveiling of the 2014 pre-game football video. Luke Nesler definitely caught the essence of what being a member of “The Tribe” is all about, he said. It fired him up – and it rekindled a feeling of pride that everyone who’s ever wore that arrowhead understands: Losing is not an option. That line of thinking stood back in early 1980s when Curtis Fleming was a member of the BHS basketball team – but it’s certainly not limited to athletics. Here in Bridgeport, WV, he had some real winning examples.

 

“Joe Leonette was a huge inspiration in my life – and in a lot of people’s lives,” said Curtis, about the Bridgeport Junior High educator who spearheaded the first Outdoors Club.

 

The stocking of Hinkle and Deegan Lakes, a fishing pole and a teacher who truly cared about his students combined to be life-changing, he said.

 

Mr. Leonette's character took hold of Curtis in other ways, too. Reminiscing about the mentor who went on to be the best man in his wedding, he told a story about a particular Christmas when Leonette didn’t show up for a friends and family gathering.

 

“Everyone was worried about him and when he finally showed up, he said he had errands to run,” Curtis recalled. “I found out four years later than he had taken his entire paycheck and bought turkeys and hams for the families of his special ed kids and delivered them to their houses. I knew then that’s the person I wanted to be.”

 

Before “putting a little hillbilly in fly fishing” and pursuing the “Fly Rod Chronicles” TV show eight years ago, Curtis Fleming was, in fact, a special education teacher.

 

This year, he turns 48 – the same age Leonette was when he passed away. He continues to strive toward some of the former educator’s ideals, with some exciting ventures on the horizon.

 

“I’m going to start a non-profit charity – Curtis’s Kids,” he said. “I want to give back like Joe gave back.”

 

In the coming weeks and months, you’ll see Fleming continue his Fly Rod Chronicles pursuit – traveling the country and world with fly fishing adventures. You may even see a little Bridgeport Indian flavor in an upcoming episode. You’ll also hear of his blossoming relationship with the Christ-centered Chestnut Mountain Ranch and even the beginnings of his fly fishing radio show.

 

As Curtis and I were slurping the end of our smoothies, the little dancers upstairs at Annabel Timms School of Ballet were apparently practicing their leaps and Almost Heaven Desserts was starting to fill up with the after-work crowd.

 

The once quiet coffee shop was bustling, as is the life of Curtis Fleming. And in a big way, he has the town of Bridgeport to thank for that, he said.

 

For more background about the Fly Rod Chronicles,” read the April 2012 story: Curtis Fleming on Fishing - and Wild, Wonderful West Virginia. To see what’s in store for his show in 2015, read Coming in 2015: Fly Rod Chronicles Featuring Alaska's Alagnak River and West Virginia's New River Gorge from earlier today. Learn more about the Sept. 27 Bridgeport High School Alumni & Friends Hall of Fame dinner, during which Fleming, Jim McDonald, Pam Hotsinpiller and Dan McNamee will be inducted, here. 

 

Julie Perine can be reached at 304-848-7200, julie@connect-bridgeport.com or follow @JuliePerine on Twitter! 

 

More "It's Happening" HERE.