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Fly Tying Group
Buszek Award Winner: 1971
Albert I. (Pal) Alexander
by Austin Hogan; edited by David Nelson
(first posted April 1, 2008; last updated April 1, 2008)
The second Buszek Award winner was Pal Alexander. If anyone could be described as an enthusiast and contributor to the whole art of fly fishing "Pal" Alexander would qualify without question. He was BIG, nearly six foot five (which didn't hurt his distance when he cast a fly!), with a reddish brown crew cut and a laugh that commanded attention. I first met him at a United Fly Tyers meeting during that organization's early beginnings. Similar to all of us present, he had a more than usual love for dressing artificial flies, driving from Andover, Massachusetts., to Boston, for each monthly meeting. I can't remember him missing any of them no matter the driving conditions or the season, often coming in early to search the book stores for his "$.85 a page" angling rarities. Eventually Pal became a Director of UFT with Bob Boucher, then President, helping to build the club to approximately 2,000 members, undoubtedly the largest fly fishing organization of its kind in the world at that time.
I can remember his enthusiasm when he proposed the UFT become a member of FFF. Alexander eventually became a Director and Vice President of the FFF and was instrumental in bringing UFT, the Medford Anglers, the Andover Fly Fishers and the Boston Fly Fishers (a unique group of doctors, lawyers and other professionals practicing in the Boston area) into The Federation. The frequent visits to Boston gave him an opportunity to gather a very fine collection of angling books and prints. He also became part of a group that met at one of Boston's old line restaurants prior to UFT meetings, where Gene Anderegg, President Tolman, and others first discussed organizational procedures with UFT officers and members relative to the joining together of UFT and FFF.
Perhaps one of Alexander's greatest pleasures was to meet other fly fishers and exchange experiences concerning the New England trout, bass, and salmon fishing. His own fishing was limited to the time he could take from his family and his rope manufacturing business but he seemed to be able to keep up with what was going on in New Brunswick and New England equally well. He bought a camping trailer and with the four kids tucked into the corners, chased elusive trout in the most bug-infested areas of the Maritime Provinces.
A graduate of Brown University, he was more than pleased to help with the formation of this country's first exhibition of fly fisher's books held at Brown's Rockefeller Library. Alexander gave freely and was notable for articles in sporting magazines such as the FFF's FlyFisher, UFT's Round Table, TU's Trout, and toward his last years did some remarkably fine biographies for the Museum of American Fly Fishing.
One of his best that appeared in the FlyFisher was the "Squannicook Story" which told of the gathering together of Massachusetts sportsmen for the purpose of purchasing several miles of a trout stream and its final ownership by the state, as a gift. He wrote biographies of William Cowper Prime, author of "I Go Fishing" (1873) and Harold N. Gibbs, remembered as the father of salt water fly fishing in America, both biographies appearing in publications of the Museum. The original Gibbs "Striper" antedates the popular "Blonds" designed by Joe Brooks by many years. Alexander also wrote a weekly column on outdoor sports for the Lawrence, Massachusetts Eagle-Tribune, was published in Field and Stream and was one of the experts chosen for Stoeger's Masters of the Dry Fly. To the sorrow of the many who knew him, Albert I. (Pal) Alexander passed away of cancer, December 16, 1976, at the age of 47.
