Youth angler wins Johnnie Baker Memorial Award for sailfish catch

Laylani Callaway, 16, was awarded the Johnnie Baker Memorial Award on Saturday, Feb. 17 by Bridge Tender Marina dock master Tripp Brice. Callaway won the award for being the first youth angler to hook a sailfish during the July 2017 Capt. Eddy Haneman Sailfish Tournament, held annually out of the Bridge Tender Marina. Callaway attends Athens Drive High School in Cary, N.C., where she is also a starter on the softball team, a member of the student council and in the school’s STEM program. Callaway said she attends the tournament each year with her father, Jay Gilleece. The award was renamed this year to honor Baker, a popular angler and former owner of Bridge Tender Marina, who died in March 2017.