Mark Davis has always carried the banner for Arkansas and its rich fishing heritage. After years as a fishing guide, he competed in his first Bassmaster tournament at age 23 and would go on to earn Bassmaster Angler of the Year titles three times (1995, 1998, 2001). In 1995, he became the first pro to win the Bassmaster Classic and Angler of the Year in the same calendar year. He has also been heavily involved in youth fishing activities, most recently leading the Mount Ida High School Fishing Club to numerous titles and contributing to the birth of the Arkansas Bassmaster High School Series. In 2019, he was inducted into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame.

Arkansas’s most famous furniture entrepreneur, Hank Browne’s accomplishments in the world of business are substantial. But the longtime hunter is equally respected in support of the outdoors via the Outdoor Hall of Fame and conservation initiatives of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Foundation. As a member of The Nature Conservancy Arkansas’s Last Great Places Society along with his wife Cathy, Browne has championed conservation via financial support, land donations and gifts of time and talents to advance the Conservancy’s work across the state.

The husband and wife Murchison team “founded the Arkansas Big Buck Classic, an event that recognizes the quality of whitetail hunting available in Arkansas, as well as promoting good sportsmanship, conservation, education and ethical hunting.

The McCollum Family is credited with the current business model of the modern duck club and thus occupies a place in the history of Arkansas duck hunting.

King, founder and owner of Pine Ridge Gardens in London, is often considered the most knowledgeable in Arkansas when it comes to using native plants in the landscape, the release said. She is credited with educating generations of amateurs and professionals on native plants and their role in bird, wildlife and butterfly habitats.

Futrell was an avid boat racer in the 1950s and took over the family business, Futrell Marine, which his father Dan Futrell established in 1948. He has since become one of the most well-known and respected businessmen in retail boating.

Young joined the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission as an entry-level water resource engineer in 1971; just four years later he was deputy director/chief engineer and was appointed executive director in 1985, a post he would hold under five governors over the next 31 years. Among his many accomplishments was working hand-in-hand with conservation groups to fight erosion, floodwater and sediment damage that threatened fragile ecosystems.

LEGACY AWARD

Legends of Arkansas’s business and philanthropic communities, J.B. and Johnelle Hunt built J.B. Transport Services from a five-truck operation into one of the largest transportation communities in the nation. The success of the company is rivaled only by the couple’s generosity, supporting innumerable worthwhile causes throughout Arkansas. Among the most recent examples, a $5 million dollar pledge toward building the forthcoming Northwest Arkansas Nature and Education Center in Springdale. Yet another legacy for future generations that bears the Hunt stamp.

Ross Whipple, The Ross Foundation: As chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Arkadelphia-based foundation, Whipple has overseen donations of millions of dollars in support of forestry research and conservation management as well as education, historical preservation and other worthwhile causes.

LEGACY AWARD

Winthrop Paul Rockefeller: Businessman, politician, conservationist and avid outdoorsman,
the late Winthrop Paul Rockefeller was a man for all seasons. His legacy of public service includes being
the driving force behind the creation of The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas, founding the International Billfish Conservation Foundation and serving on the national board for Boy Scouts of America. He also spearheaded The National Rifle Association’s Project ChildSafe in Arkansas, distributing hundreds of free trigger locks to gun owners statewide.