Built to Last: Reelin’ for Research Community Continues to Grow

For nearly two decades, Reelin’ for Research has grown in ways that are difficult to fully measure. The numbers are staggering: more than $8 million raised for childhood cancer research at UNC Children’s since 2009, including more than $1 million raised in each of the past three years. The tournament has become one of the largest charitable fishing tournaments on the East Coast.

But somewhere along the way, Reelin’ became something larger than a tournament.

What began as a fishing event held in memory of Tony Montana has evolved into an institution, a year-round community of families, students, volunteers, sponsors, physicians and fundraisers connected by a shared sense of purpose.

Richard Montana, who founded Reelin’ for Research after losing his father to cancer, can feel that shift now.

“At first you’re trying to catch the tiger,” he said. “Now we’ve got the tiger by the tail.”

This year’s tournament, held on May 2 in Morehead City, tested that momentum almost immediately. Severe weather moved into the coast during tournament weekend, bringing rough seas and relentless rain. In earlier years, Montana admits, that kind of forecast might have caused panic. This year felt different.

“We control what you can control,” he said. “We’re going to have a good time because we’ve got great food, we got two great bands and if this thing turns into a concert instead of fishing, so be it.”

That steadiness has become part of Reelin’s identity. Even as the event has expanded, Montana speaks less about growth than continuity. His focus has become keeping people connected, keeping families involved, and continuing to create something people want to return to year after year.

“We’ve always said, if we can just get someone down to the tournament for the weekend, they’re in with both feet for a long time,” he said.

The fishing is still important, and so is the spirit of competition, which extends beyond the tournament itself. Teams spend months organizing fundraisers, oyster roasts, concerts and community events in hopes of topping the leaderboard. But Montana believes the deeper impact now lives in the culture that surrounds the tournament.

One of the clearest examples is the student ambassador program, which involves high school students from across North Carolina in fundraising and event leadership.

Every year, students organize events, recruit donors and help drive momentum around the tournament. Some host fishing clinics. Others run school fundraisers or community events. Many are introduced to philanthropy through Reelin’ long before they begin thinking about careers or college applications.

“I think one of the coolest things,” Montana said, “is we are getting young people involved in philanthropy and understanding how that works and how you can make a difference.”

Over time, those students have become part of the fabric of the organization. So have the children of longtime volunteers and board members, many of whom have grown up attending the tournament every spring.

When Reelin’ for Research launched in 2009, most of the founders did not yet have children of their own. Now many of those kids are teenagers, helping with fundraising efforts themselves, and helping to turn Reelin’ from a tournament to a movement.

“My kids have been fishing it with me the past three years,” Montana said. “Their friends are really into it.”

He hopes the next generation eventually carries the work forward.

“I would love to have it in a couple of years that they take over the tournament or get involved,” he said. “And like I said, it goes on forever.”

That sense of continuity has become increasingly visible at UNC Children’s as well. In 2022, UNC Children’s renamed its pediatric hematology oncology clinic The Reelin’ for Research Pediatric Hematology Oncology Clinic in recognition of the organization’s longstanding and powerful support of pediatric cancer research.

For Montana, the tournament’s meaning still comes back to the children and families at the center of it all.

Heading into this year’s stormy weekend on the coast, he found himself thinking about the contrast between rough weather and the reality many pediatric cancer patients face every day.

“We have storms and we have rough weather and we’re going to have to fish in the rain,” he said. “But it’s nothing compared to what those kids are going through.”

No matter the weather, year after year, the boats keep coming in. The tents fill. Students return. Families return. New volunteers arrive, and longtime supporters stay involved.

The tournament keeps growing because the mission has outgrown the tournament itself.

Reelin’ for Research is no longer just an event people attend.

It has become something people belong to.

For more information on Reelin’ for Research, please contact Keela Lyon, Assistant Vice President of Corporate and Foundation Relations, UNC Health Foundation, at [email protected] or (919) 928-6435.