Story by Ken Duke | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
Occasionally, people are extraordinary.
Through grit, determination, perseverance, resilience, and sheer force of will, they find a way to prevail under circumstances that would crush most of us.
In 2025, NPFL professional angler Chad Poteat, 52, of Mount Airy, North Carolina showed the world that he is one of those extraordinary people. Early this year, Poteat was diagnosed with an aggressive form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“ALS” or “Lou Gehrig’s disease”). It’s a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting neurons in the brain and spinal cord. These neurons control voluntary muscles, like the ones that enable us to walk, talk, swallow, and breathe. With ALS, they gradually weaken, atrophy, and lose their ability to function. Over time, paralysis develops, but cognitive abilities usually remain intact.
It’s a cruel, relentless disease that takes an inevitable toll. That toll has been magnified in the case of Chad Poteat in 2025. In August, his 21-year-old daughter passed away. His 96-year-old mother died less than a month later.
To withstand such loss—even in great health—is a challenge. To do it with a debilitating disease seems unthinkable.
Poteat and his wife Alaine did it.
And he did it while striving to live his dream of competing against the top pros in fishing … for as long as he could.
To say he prevailed in that effort is an understatement. This year, while battling ALS and heartbreaking loss, Chad Poteat finished 59th in the Progressive Angler of the Year rankings. He finished ahead of one Bassmaster Classic champion, ahead of three Forrest Wood Cup champions, ahead of nine Bassmaster Classic qualifiers who went to 19 Classics, ahead of 10 Forrest Wood Cup qualifiers who went to 45 Wood Cups, and he brought a limit of bass to the scales in every tournament save one.
That’s nothing short of amazing.
The NPFL “Circle of Honor” is new, and it’s impactful. President Brad Fuller created it to honor “truly outstanding accomplishment that embodies the soul of the NPFL,” that displays “extraordinary courage and unshakeable spirit,” and that embodies “persistence, resilience, and faith in God.” Fuller describes these qualities as “something you just are, not something you can merely strive to be.
“Chad Poteat made us all better people in 2025.”
Poteat will be the first person to enter the NPFL Circle of Honor and will receive a medallion commemorating that induction.
At the NPFL Championship banquet last night, Poteat commented on the year he’s endured, saying, “It has long been my dream to go out and compete against the top fishing pros, and I was able to do it.”
How many of us could do the same?
