[StBernard] Blackie Campo

[Westley Annis]

Local fishing legend "Blackie" Campo dies at 90


by Bob Marshall, The Times-Picayune 
Thursday July 10, 2008, 11:14 AM

Frank "Blackie" Campo, the Shell Beach marina owner who was an iconic figure
on the local fishing scene for more than four generations, died this morning
after a short illness, according to his granddaughter Christine Campo. He
was 90. 

"Blackie was fishing in this area," said Mark Schexnayder, fisheries
biologist with the LSU Sea Grant. "He was knowledgeable about the history of
fishing in this area, and also about the history of the people who live
here. I don't know how you replace someone like Blackie." 

Campo was born in 1918 into a family of commercial fishermen in the village
of Shell Beach, then located on the banks of Lake Borgne. His father,
Celestino, started a business catering to sport fishermen in the early
1900s, guiding, renting skiffs and providing live baits. When he was 10,
Campo went to work for his father and never left the business, despite
hardships from hurricanes and development. 

The dredging of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet in the early 1960s forced
the village to move inland about one mile from the Lake Borgne shoreline.
His homes and business were wiped out by hurricanes on four occasions. Yet
Campo rebuilt each time, including after Hurricane Katrina removed
everything from Shell Beach except building slabs. 

"I know there's nothing left, but when I finally got back here I felt good
for the first time since the storm hit, because I felt like I was finally
home," Campo said in June 2006 when he and his wife, Mabel, moved into a
tiny FEMA trailer in Shell Beach after spending 10 months with family in
Baton Rouge. 

"I can see the water and smell the marsh. This is where I belong." 

Katrina took the electric hoist, bait station, fuel dock, slips and boat
sheds that had been Campo's business staples for decades. He rebuilt the
business by installing a back-down ramp, and restarting the fuel and bait
services. 

"My first fishing trip was to Blackie's, and I think if you ask most
fishermen around here, many of them would say their first trip was down to
Shell Beach and Blackie's too," said Dudley Vandenborre, a local fishing
guide and lure manufacturer. "He was just a great friend to fishermen,
because he loved fishing and he knew it so well." 

Campo was the source anglers as well as fisheries managers turned to for
information on fishing issues in St. Bernard Parish, widely respected for
his knowledge and fairness. 

"He was the unofficial mayor of Shell Beach and lower St. Bernard Parish,"
Schexnayder said. "If I you needed to know what fishermen - commercial guys
as well as recreational - were thinking or talking about on any issue, you
just went to Blackie to find out. He knew. And he was a living history book
for the area, so he had great perspective." 

Barry Brechtel, owner of Breton Sound Marina in Hopedale and head of Big
Fish Charters, said Campo's death would stun local anglers, even though
Campo was 90. 

"You never considered Blackie's age, because he just seemed ageless,"
Brechtel said. "You just expected him to always be there. It's hard to
imagine driving down here and not thinking you'll see him down at Shell
Beach." 

Campo also was a legendary Saints fan. Until an illness prevented him from
attending a game against the Vikings on Oct. 7, 2001 he had missed only one
home game in 34 years, that the result of Hurricane Juan in 1985. 

"I was all dressed, all ready, " Campo recalled in a 2001 Times-Picayune
story. Going to that 1985 wasn't the problem, even though it would have
meant taking a boat six miles to traverse the flooded Shell Beach roads,
then catching a ride for the rest of the hour-long trip to the Superdome.
But coming home after dark would have required a Humvee, and Campo couldn't
pull that off. "And I didn't want to get stranded out there in the woods, "
he said. 

In 1996, with Tropical Storm Josephine churning his way, Campo decided he
had to see the game between the 0-5 Saints and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
"Took a boat up the bayou to where there was dry land, then we got into a
truck and made it to the Dome, " Campo said the day after the Saints'
victory. "Never thought about not going." 

Bob Marshall can be reached at rmarshall at timespicayune.com or (504)
826-3539.