UUPeople

That’s fishy: Potsdam angler aids visually impaired in their quest to catch ‘the big one’

George Kahn could very well be called a modern Renaissance man with a North Country twist.

A UUPer at SUNY Potsdam and an instructional support technician in the college’s psychology department, School of Arts and Sciences, Kahn also has a variety of hobbies that encompass music, the culinary arts and sportsmanship.

A trained pianist and clarinetist, he performs in orchestras at SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University. A vegetarian home chef, he grows and cans his own produce and devotes one morning every weekend to making bread and pasta. An avid outdoorsman, Kahn belongs to the Adirondack Mountain Club and local paddling and pistol clubs, and also teaches a New York Department of Environmental Conservation hunter safety course.

It was Kahn’s love of fishing, however, that introduced him to a cause: greater public awareness of blindness and ways to prevent it.

“Any of us is but a heartbeat away from becoming visually impaired or blind, and too many people are not cognizant of this,” Kahn said.

Every spring for the past seven years, Kahn has participated in the Blind Anglers International Tournament (BAIT) in Westmeath, Ontario, Canada. Co-sponsored by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and the Canadian Lions Club, the tournament brings about 100 blind or visually impaired anglers together with sighted anglers at the Ottawa River for a weekend of fishing, story-swapping and fun.

Kahn learned about the tournament accidentally. A member of the Potsdam Lions Club, he contacted the Nepean Lions Club in Ottawa with a question about the newsletter he produced for his chapter. The Nepean Lions Club member to whom he spoke mentioned the tournament, and Kahn was intrigued enough to attend. Now, he not only participates as a fisherman, but also helps provide entertainment with his piano-playing at a dinner that kicks off the BAIT weekend every year.

Through BAIT, Kahn has made lasting friendships.

“Roger, pronounced ‘Roe-zhay’, is one of my regular blind anglers, and his lack of Anglo, plus my lack of Franco, surely guarantee a fun day even if we don’t catch a fish!” Kahn said.

Many of the blind anglers lost their sight through accidents or failure to wear eye protection. One lost an eye when struck by a car part that became loose while he was doing a repair without eye protection; he lost the other eye a few years later when struck by a pack of cigarettes tossed to him at a party. Another man was struck and knocked out by the handlebar of a motorcycle he was trying to steady on its kickstand; when he regained consciousness, he had lost his vision.

“I could probably give 80 similar tales,” Kahn said. “Different ages, different causes, but none of them can see. Want a challenge? Put on some blindfolds for an hour, and just try, say, cooking breakfast ‘blind.’”

Kahn has received several commendations from the Lions Club for his work on behalf of blind and visually impaired people, especially for his promotional work for the Leader Dog School in Rochester, Mich., a Lions project that provides guide dogs to the blind.

Kahn expects to continue his volunteer work with BAIT, and his strong ties to the Potsdam area make it likely he’ll do so. A 1970 graduate of the college, he and his wife, Sharon, have seen their two sons continue the Potsdam tradition: Justin is a junior, and David graduated in 2000.

Now, Kahn is looking forward to BAIT 2003 in the spring, and the lessons he takes from that experience each year. Said Kahn, “You can’t believe how much people see who can’t see.”

— Darryl McGrath