Kim Ward took over the pioneering aluminum boat manufacturing facility started by his father and his uncle at the close of World War II and led it to national prominence, first as Duracraft Boats then as War Eagle Boats. Ward paced the company through changes and trends in recreational fishing needs and those of water-connected hunting, often developing effective new features in the shallow water boats. Ward led the Modern Aluminum Derby (MAD) in 1972 to help expose Arkansas water and fishing resources through participating media to a nationwide audience.

Zack McClendon Jr. has spent a lifetime building boats, beginning at age 8. He took the business launched by his father and expanded and created new markets with two branches – one for recreational boats and the other for work and military boats. McClendon has passed the 100,000 mark in boats produced, and his SeaArk craft are seen in daily use on lakes and rivers in Arkansas as well as in harbor and shore environs around the world. McClendon and a SeaArk boat were integral participants in the 1996 Arkansas River trip of Governor Mike Huckabee that helped push the Conservation Sales Tax to reality.

Tommy Sanders of Little Rock followed his graduation from Hendrix College with energy and enthusiasm into the television outdoors world. Tommy’s promotion of Arkansas’ hunting and fishing opportunities drew the attention of outdoor enthusiasts to this state. His clear and straightforward announcing has become a fixture on the multiple programs related to hunting and fishing on ESPN, the cable network, with Sanders often working in close proximity with veteran producer Jerry McKinnis of Little Rock in projects all over the North American continent.

Bert and Cheryl Haralson of Augusta are a husband and wife team much involved in the development of Arkansas elk on both the hunting and the tourism scenes. Long active in leadership roles with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Haralsons have been key figures in the cooperative planning and implementing of elk habitat programs in the Buffalo River country of north Arkansas.

Greg Butts of Little Rock may be a native of upstate New York , but he found a home long ago in Arkansas with its state parks system. As director of state parks, he was a key figure in the successful 1996 campaign in which voters approved a conservation sales tax. The revenue from what is now Amendment 75 has given Butts the means to oversee the renovation and expansion of Arkansas parks and the use of them by growing numbers of residents and out-of-state visitors.

Marion McCollum of Stuttgart is a member of a multi-generation Grand Prairie family heavily involved in duck hunting and the area’s wetlands habitat. He developed Mack’s Sport Shop into a leading national mail order sales corporation, Mack’s Prairie Wings, and its Stuttgart facility draws visitors from many states and some foreign countries. He was an active and effective commissioner with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission from 1995 to 2002.

He has been an avid turkey hunter for 58 years. He joined the National Wild Turkey Federation in 1975, not long after the organization was founded, and became a member of its board of directors in 1980. He has played a key role in the growth of NWTF into a major and effective conservation organization. Denton and NWTF have been instrumental in a number of Arkansas habitat improvement and expansion projects.

Rick Hampton is a farmer, waterfowl hunting enthusiast and a former Game and Fish Commission member who was a key figure in a number of wildlife-related developments in the late 1970s and 1980s – the changing of directors at the Game and Fish Commission, restoring elk to Arkansas and bringing back Canada geese to Arkansas.

Phyllis Speer’s sideline has made her a celebrity across the state in addition to her two decades in educational work for the Game and Fish Commission. She has won renown and a following as the co-host and cooking specialist on the popular Arkansas Outdoors program on Arkansas Educational Television Network.

An attorney, farmer, businessman and, most of all, a facilitator who has been instrumental in major Arkansas outdoor improvements for public use through his service with the U.S. Senate, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and The Nature Conservancy.