LONGTIME LURE

White’s Tackle General Manager Geoff Quatraro stocks the display
White’s Tackle General Manager Geoff Quatraro stocks the display of skirt lures at the Fort Pierce store. White’s carries a wide variety of fishing gear. RUSTY DURHAM

White’s Tackle is within striking distance of centennial

BY WHITNEY JOSEPH

White’s Tackle moved to North Second Street following World War II.
White’s Tackle moved to North Second Street following World War II. JOHN ‘DON’ RAFFENSBERGER

Fishermen are known for swapping larger-than-life stories, but the camaraderie at White’s Tackle is no fish tale. The nearly 100-year-old business fosters friendships that have lasted lifetimes.

Albert “Buck” White opened his tackle store in Fort Pierce’s P.P. Cobb Building in 1935, moving to Second Street in 1945 following World War II. Donald “Raffy” Raffensberger bought the store from White’s sister, Linnie Tamplin, in 1973. He kept the name, and in 1996 he passed the business on to his son, John “Don” Raffensberger, who ran it until 2007, the year his father passed away and former employee Scott Crippen bought the business. The company’s website says the store opened in 1925. An article in a 1935 edition of the [Fort Pierce] News-Tribune announced the opening of Buck White’s Tackle Store in the P.P. Cobb Building.

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