Three of Arkansas's most influential individuals in the outdoors will be honored at the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation's 25th annual Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame banquet. Steve "Wild Man" Wilson, Rodney Herndon and Scott Simon are the Hall of Fame's 2016 inductees.
"Each year, a selection committee made up of foundation board members reviews possible candidates for the Hall of Fame," said Chuck Dicus, foundation president. "Lengthy discussions over each candidate's qualifications are held before the decision is made. Each year's inductees represent the best of Arkansas's outdoor stewards."
Hall of Fame Banquet
When: Aug. 12
Where: Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock
Cost: $125 per person.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, contact the foundation office at 501-223-6468 or email Ruth-Kathryn Rains at [email protected].
Steve "Wild Man" Wilson, who recently retired from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, was one of the most recognizable outdoor figures in Arkansas during his 38-year career. In addition to hosting weekly television and radio shows for Game and Fish, his work was influential in the passage of the one-eigth cent conservation sales tax, which helps fund conservation throughout Arkansas.
He also began Arkansas's efforts in Project WILD in his early years with the commission, the position that eventually led to his interesting moniker.
Rodney Herndon revolutionized the way fishing and hunting boats were made. The owner and former president of Xpress Boats introduced outdoors enthusiasts to the first all-welded aluminum boat, which set the standard for strength and durability for boats in its class. Later, Xpress introduced the first aluminum boat with a padded hull, which offers the ride of a much more expensive fiberglass boat while retaining the solid nature of aluminum.
Under Herndon's leadership, Xpress grew from a modest, family-run company in Friendship, Arkansas, into a 175-employee enterprise with a 240,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Hot Springs.
Scott Simon has worked for The Nature Conservancy since 1996, first as Arkansas's land steward and most recently as director of the Arkansas chapter of the organization. Simon has developed many partnerships in the last 20 years, resulting in the conservation of more than 300,000 acres of Arkansas natural lands. Simon's steadfast work has preserved critical natural habitat for both game and nongame animals and helped restore and maintain some of Arkansas's most treasured rivers and watersheds.
This year's Legacy Award will go to John M. Olin (posthumously). Olin is most recognized for his company's 23 U.S. patents in the field of arms and ammunition. He led Winchester Repeating Arms Co. back to prominence after his family's corporation merged with the firearms manufacturer.
The businessman also was a legend in the conservation world as well as an avid hunter, founder of famous Greenbriar duck club and owner of King Buck, the black Labrador retriever found on the famous 1959-60 Federal Migratory Bird Conservation Stamp promoting the use of retrievers while waterfowl hunting.
"We hope everyone gets a chance to come out and enjoy the banquet and auction," Dicus said. "This is our one big fundraiser for the year, and we depend on it to raise the funds to help us in our mission of assisting the foundation in funding projects and programming, particularly those programs that focus on introducing youth to the outdoors."
Sports on 07/26/2016