A brother in need, a brother indeed

The aftermath of the June flood to Zach Horrocks’ boat in his garage in Dixie, W.Va.

ROANOKE, W.Va. — The June 23rd flood produced stories of tragedy and heartache in West Virginia.  However, the most positive impact of the widespread disaster was the steel will and desire to help out neighbors in need.   There have been countless stories of selfless acts by strangers helping strangers, neighbor helping neighbor, and friends making special efforts for others in times of crises.

Zach Horrocks of Dixie, West Virginia learned a lot about friendship, loyalty, and humility over the summer. Zach and his dad had fished five of the six Buddy Trail events on the West Virginia Bass Nation Trail and were sitting in fourth place overall.  A good showing in the final event of the year would have likely secured them a championship for the season and qualified them to represent West Virginia in the upcoming regional tournament.

But June 23rd changed everything.

“We were there that day and about 5:00 that evening the water started rising.  We thought it was going to get into the garage and that would be it, so we set everything up,” Zach explained. “That wasn’t the case at all. It came up 7 and a half feet into the house, filled up the garage, and floated my boat completely to the ceiling.  It filled up my boat with water and destroyed it.”

Zach’s family was able to save their clothes and keepsakes like baby pictures, but most everything else in the lower level of their home near the Fayette/Nicholas County line was lost.

“Furniture, TV’s, stoves, everything like that was downstairs,” he said. “That was all ruined.”

Given the circumstances, fishing in the final event of the bass tournament season didn’t seem like something Zach needed to worry about.  But then he got a call from his buddy Alex Goff.    Alex lives in Clendenin, another area that was severely hit by the storm.

“We were flooding too so I heard about him and we called and checked on each other,” said Goff.

Goff’s family was much more fortunate than many of their neighbors.  Although the town was destroyed, Goff’s home is high on a hill and was untouched by the high water.   Then Alex had an idea.

“I didn’t really have anything to do,” he said. “So I decided I would go fishing with my friend.”

Alex offered to take Zach fishing in the final tournament of the year on the Ohio River to see if maybe they could finish high enough to earn him and his dad enough points to win the championship.

“Alex helped me out with a boat and all the fishing stuff.  My rods weren’t cleaned up and I had lost all my baits,” said Zach. “He stepped up and let me use his boat and fished with me.  I can’t thank him enough for that.”

“Well, Zach’s one of my best friends. I’ve known him ever since I started fishing.  I just had to help a buddy out, so I just took him fishing,” Alex explained. “I knew some spots and we just had a really good day.”

A good day indeed.  The two pals finished 5th in the final tournament of the season giving Zach and his dad enough points to be crowned Buddy Trail Champions.  They’ll now advance on to fish the regional qualifier with a chance to possibly qualify for bass fishing’s biggest stage, the Bassmaster Classic.

During the weeks since the flood, life for Zach and his family has slowly been making progress back to normal.   He was able to secure a new boat.  Repairs are being made to the house and appliances and other lost items are slowly being replaced.   But the one thing which he now knows didn’t need any repair was a strong bond of loyalty between buddies.

“I can’t thank him enough for that,” Zach said. “That shows what good friends I have.”





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