MICHAEL LEECH
As a young man Mike Leech fished Rhode Island's lakes and Narragansett Bay, but by his 1957 graduation from the University of Miami, South Florida was home. After serving four years in the Coast Guard, first on an Arctic ice breaker and then as Assistant Director for the Miami Auxiliary, Leech became a stock broker, real estate developer, and the Florida Council of 100's Director. Somewhere in between, he married Augusta "Gussie" Pace.
Mike was an avid saltwater angler and in 1977, when he was President of the Fort Lauderdale Billfish Tournament, he wrote the rules for, and ran, the first-ever nighttime swordfish tournament. A keen interest in fisheries brought him to the 1982 Snook Symposium organized by IGFA President Elwood K. Harry, and it was here that Harry suggested Leech stop by the IGFA office. In January 1983 Mike Leech was appointed IGFA Executive Director, a position he held for 10 years. Housed in the old beachfront Holiday Inn on Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, the organization's paid staff numbered less than a dozen, and handled all business — from membership to world records -- on manual typewriters. Ever so gently, Mike began nudging his frugal mentor into the 20th century. Change was not without controversy however: the addition of a fax machine generated serious discussion about the cost of a second phone line, while the arrival of computers proved stressful for staff accustomed to typing everything on duplicate carbon forms.
In addition, there were major events on the IGFA's agenda. Mike played a pivotal role in the planning of the First World Angling Conference, a groundbreaking international symposium held in France in September 1984. At the same time he had begun collecting items for a new fundraising endeavor called the International Auction and Banquet. Working with a small committee headed by IGFA Trustee Al McClane, the inaugural event was held in January 1985 at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach. McClane, a well-known gourmet, planned the food, which was served in Plano tackle boxes and included an appetizer of cherry smoked marlin. But the auction was a resounding success, raised $80,000, and over the next 17 years generated millions for the IGFA's programs.
Three weeks after Harry's death in 1992, the Board of Trustees appointed Mike Leech the IGFA's fifth President. In that role, over the next decade, Mike focused on his mission to establish the IGFA as the world's most respected and authoritative fishing organization. With membership a priority he worked on benefits, adding new categories, discounts, line-testing and scale-certification services, and new Clubs (Thousand Pound, Bass, Snook, Grand Slams, and four catch-weight-to-line-class). By 2003 All-Tackle Records existed for 832 species, up from 452 ten years earlier; the six-pound line class category, discontinued in 1982, was restarted; and a State Freshwater Line Class Program had been introduced. Mike created the IGFA Offshore and Inshore World Championships; in 1997 the Junior Angler World Record Program and Championship were launched; and the Certified Captain, Weigh Station, Observer and "No Marlin on the Menu" Programs followed. Keeping IGFA members, Representatives, and the press updated on conservation issues was imperative, and he did so in monthly "Hot News" bulletins and quarterly reports.
Seven years after Elwood Harry's passing his dream of a permanent location for the organization and his beloved library was realized with the opening of the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum in January 1999. The Hall of Fame concept, Mike's idea years before, became a key element of the Museum's design, and the planning, construction and completion of the IGFA's home will always remain one of Mike's most significant accomplishments.
