Winner Of 2017 Prestige Walleye Plate Award Announced

Friday, May 5th was definitely a treat for the attendees of the Walleye Weekend launch party as it brought sunshine, cool breezes, and for David VanGorder, repetitious volunteer for Fond du Lac’s Walleye Weekend, the 2017 Walleye Plate award.
David VanGorder, best known as “Whimpy”, was in for a surprise, having not a clue he would be the new recipient of this year’s award. The award recognizes an individual of superior dedication, spirit, and volunteerism. For someone like Whimpy, who has dedicated his time to volunteering every single year at Walleye Weekend, this describes him precisely.
Michelle Kilburn-Jaeger, award announcer, mentioned that, “Whimpy is everything good in a person, who has dedicated most of his life to his community, family, and everything that is ‘Walleye’.” Whimpy took the stage to proudly accept the award and thank everyone, but in reality, it was everyone giving their thanks to him, as he so deserved.
While he was the only person to date to have volunteered at every Mercury National Walleye Tournament, he also has had a significant role as president of “Walleyes For Tomorrow”, a volunteer organization that works to increase the walleye population in waters where habitat projects are undertaken. Whimpy is the true definition of a volunteer. One of his fondest memories of Walleye Weekend over the years was becoming the second recipient in history to win the Hack award, with 8 who would trail him later. Upon receiving the Walleye Plate award, Whimpy stated that “It’s an honor… as long as I’m here I’ll keep volunteering!”
A huge ‘congratulations’ is in order to the man who tirelessly and effortlessly volunteers every year of his life to something he loves… walleye! Whimpy will forever be an example of a good man, and as we can see from his previous winnings, the epitome of a selfless volunteer.