The 30th annual John Havlicek Celebrity Fishing Tournament was held over the weekend on the Island and the waters around it. The Celtic immortal and his wife, Beth, host the three-day event for the benefit of the Genesis Fund, a nonprofit that has raised more than $26 million since 1982 to help fund the specialized treatment of New England children born with birth defects, genetic diseases, and intellectual disabilities.
Celebrities checked into the Harbor View Hotel on Thursday for a three-night stay. Golf and tennis competitions took up much of Friday, while Saturday was reserved for the highlight of the weekend, an informal fishing tournament. On each of 15 boats, a paying guest was accompanied by a celebrity — a former professional athlete, a media personality, or a comedian.
Saturday was gloomy and windy, with a constant threat of rain, but the faint of heart either faked it pretty well or didn’t speak up. The roughest water they encountered was at the outside of the jetties leading out of Oak Bluffs harbor, but it was sloppy just about everywhere. Still, the fishing held up, and the rotten weather provided fodder for great stories, tall or otherwise.
