Tournament Benefits Children and Cancer Center

Mike Grzanich had nearly finished a song and the proud crowd at Cabo San Lucas’ Hacienda Hotel was in the middle of dinner when 11-year-old Rosie Aguilar walked in with her mother.

There was immediate silence, then loud applause. And there were tears streaming down Grzanich’s face for all to see.

And, many in the banquet room believed, Pete Lopiccola was looking down from the heavens, wearing the soft smile that endeared him to so many in his short life.

The night was in Lopiccola’s honor. It was in honor of people like Aguilar, too, who recently “went from a caterpillar to a butterfly,” according to Grzanich, owner of Cabo’s Latitude 22+.

Lopiccola, a respected fisherman and skipper from San Diego who spent much of his time in Cabo San Lucas, died in 1988 after a short battle with leukemia. News of his death came as a shock because he had refused treatment while keeping his illness a secret so as not to “disturb” family and friends.

More than 400 attended his burial at sea, at which time they vowed to fight the disease that stole his life two days short of his 30th birthday.

“For Pete’s sake,” one mourner remarked.

The Pete Lopiccola Memorial Fishing Tournament was born, and the all-charity event has been growing ever since. A record $125,000 was raised at the event last weekend, and will increase when the UC San Diego Cancer Center receives its donation and matches that amount later this month.

So great has the support been among Lopiccola’s former friends--many of them well-to-do yacht owners and fishermen--that the Pete Lopiccola Leukemia Research Foundation is only one benefactor. A fund was also set up to help disadvantaged Mexicans, such as Aguilar.

A slender, shy child with big brown eyes, Aguilar was afflicted with a strange illness when she was only 3 months old. One leg was eventually amputated near the hip and part of the muscle in her other leg was removed. For the next 10 years her muscles withered so badly that she could barely pick up a matchbook.

Tournament volunteers came to her rescue last year. They had her flown to San Diego and fitted with a prosthesis. She wore a constant grin when given a guided tour of Sea World.

Her muscles have since responded to her increased activity and she is getting around nicely, although she was a little late for this year’s awards banquet at the beachfront resort.

But in a way, she was just in time.

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Randy Dewing of Carson City, Nev., won first place in the catch-and-release category for releasing the most marlin.

First place in the kill portion of the tournament went to angler Robert Buie of Rancho Santa Fe, who caught a 498 1/2-pound blue marlin aboard the Sea Call. Buie also finished fourth in the release portion.

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The largest largemouth in captivity lives on . . . but in memory only.

The International Game Fish Assn. has reported the passing of Ethel the bass, at 19, in a Springfield, Mo., aquarium.

Ethel was 11 when caught in Lake Fork, Tex. She was transported to Missouri’s Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World.

“She lived to twice her normal life expectancy in the pampered luxury of the aquarium, where she greeted more than 20 million visitors,” the IGFA said.

Ethel was 28 inches long and weighed a little more than 20 pounds when she died.

“She is survived by her relatives: 17-pound Wanda Bass, 16 1/2-pound Gerty Bass and 15-pound Lily Bass,” the IGFA added.

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The battle between hunting groups and animal-rights activists sometimes gets a little silly.

Promoting “National Farm Animal Awareness Week,” the Humane Society of the United States said, “Some cows love the music of Elvis and produce more milk when listening to it.”

The Wildlife Legislative Fund of America, which wages a constant war with “antis” in the courts, replied: “Perhaps. Although one might guess their taste would run to Meatloaf.”