Dan Moneymaker and other veterans are hosting the inaugural Smoky Mountain Grand Slam Challenge. Image by Steve Thompson.

KNOXVILLE — Vietnam veteran Dan Moneymaker of Knoxville used to spend a lot of time sitting in his wheelchair, staring at his walls—until his life was transformed by Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing. "Without PHWFF," he says, "I wouldn't be alive today."

Instead, his participation in the Knoxville chapter of PHWFF sparked an enthusiasm for helping others—tying trout flies for Casting for Recovery, helping host a fishing trip for veterans from the Wounded Warrior Project, teaching children to tie flies at Kids Fish Free Day. Because of his devoted giving to others, Moneymaker was selected for a PHWFF fishing trip to Montana this year, all expenses paid. And when he went to Montana, he left his wheelchair and walker at home.

Now, Moneymaker and the other veterans of the Knoxville chapter of PHWFF are hosting the inaugural Smoky Mountain Grand Slam Challenge, a fundraising fly fishing tournament and banquet. Money raised by the Slam will help pay for the work of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing—a national nonprofit dedicated to the emotional and physical rehabilitation of wounded and disabled veterans and active military members through fly fishing.

The tournament on Saturday, Oct. 18, will feature 10 disabled veterans from around the nation, each fishing the Clinch River in a driftboat with a donating sponsor and a professional guide. Each veteran-and-sponsor team will vie for awards for largest fish, most total inches, smallest fish and the Grand Slam award for catching a brook trout, brown trout and rainbow trout all in the same day.

The evening before, on Friday, Oct. 17, a fundraising banquet will be held at the Museum of Appalachia from 6 to 9 p.m., featuring Calhoun's award-winning baby back ribs with all the fixin's and live bluegrass music. Beer and wine will be available. PHWFF CEO Ellen Killough and several distinguished military personnel will speak, and the crowd will hear from the veterans how Project Healing Waters Fly fishing has changed their lives.

A live auction will feature a bamboo fly rod built by famed fly angler Walter Babb, a bamboo rod built by Blackberry Farm fishing manager Alex Quick with the help of veterans from the Knoxville program, and artwork by veteran Jessica Callihan. Additional special items will be available in a silent auction.

Ticket purchasers will have access to the museum grounds starting at noon to enjoy all the Museum of Appalachia has to offer—and they'll be present to give a hero's welcome to the veterans, who will be escorted to the museum by a Patriot Guard motorcycle motorcade.

Banquet tickets cost $100 each. Sponsorships are also available, ranging from $500 to $15,000, with benefits to sponsors including banquet tickets, recognition in tournament materials and, at sponsorship levels from $2,500 up, reserved banquet tables and fishing with a veteran during the tournament. For details or to purchase, visit www.smokymountainslam.com or contact Steve Thompson, Stevethefishingguy@gmail.com or (865) 773-3343; Wayne Nobles, waynenobles@bellsouth.net or (865) 335-2485; or Buzz Buffington, buzz.buffington@gmail.com or (865) 463-7167.

Thompson says, "Please help us, one veteran at a time!"