| Outdoor Hall of Fame banquet is Friday, Sept. 23 |
 LITTLE
ROCK - Tickets are available for the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame
induction banquet, Friday, Sept. 23, at the Statehouse Convention Center
in Little Rock.This year’s inductees are Dr. Mamie Parker of Washington, D.C., Butch Richenback of Stuttgart and Randy Hopper of Flippin. The Outdoor Hall of Fame began in 1992 as a project of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation and Ducks Unlimited to recognize Arkansans' achievements in outdoor fields and to protect wildlife habitat. For more information about the Outdoor Hall of Fame and tickets to the induction banquet, contact Steve Smith at (501) 223-6396. The 2005 inductees: Butch Richenback  Harry
“Butch” Richenback, a champion duck caller, also became Stuttgart’s
mayor.In the years between these milestones are the many achievements (most unheralded) of this Stuttgart native who may be compared to the Pied Piper, except he used a duck call instead of a flute. Richenback taught hundreds of young people to use a duck call. He did much of it on Saturdays, when Stuttgart kids went to duck call lessons instead of dance or piano lessons. They flocked to the Stuttgart Boys and Girls Club, where Richenback held forth with patience, good humor and perseverance while teaching young people to blow a duck call for hunting and for contests. Richenback learned the basics of duck calling from the legendary Chick Major, as did many Stuttgart youngsters. Richenback stuck with Major in learning how to make duck calls, as well as how to use them. He built the successful Rich-N-Tone company, and its products remain at the forefront of an industry that has mushroomed in recent decades. Mamie Parker  When
Mamie Parker began fishing as a young girl in south Arkansas, it was for
catfish and anything else that could go to the dinner table. Today she
is near the top of the federal hierarchy, overseeing the nation’s
fishing and outdoor habitat scene.A native of Wilmot in Ashley County, just a good cast above the Louisiana border, Parker is assistant director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, heading its operations in fisheries and habitat conversation. Parker’s mother introduced her to catching catfish with worms at an early age. Her mother also taught the value of education, and Parker went from high school to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and kept going, earning bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. “I grew up in southern Arkansas,” Parker said. “My mother was an avid angler and outdoorswoman. I think she would have been the Oprah of the Outdoors, but it was the 1950s and too early for that. I'm the youngest of my parents' 11 children, and so I spent a lot of time with my mother, and that's how I started getting an interest in being in an outdoor field for a living.” She joined the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1978 at the Fish Health Laboratory in Wisconsin. Like most career FWS staff members, she moved frequently, and spent most of her time in northern stations. After a stint in Atlanta, she was sent to Washington, D.C., and became the northeast regional director for the FWS, stationed at Hadley, Mass. She became the agency’s assistant director in 2003. Randy Hopper  Randy
Hopper had a broom in his hand when he began his climb to the top of
Ranger Boats.“I was 15 years old and in high school when I went to work for Ranger,” Hopper said. “My first job was to sweep out the plant at night. Then I became night manager when I was still a teenager.” Hopper has directed the best-known fishing boat company as president for 16 years. He’s also put much of his time and energy into activities for young people - the future of fishing, he says. He’s in step with his father-in-law, Forrest Wood, on this front. Hopper grew up in Flippin in the era when Ranger Boats was created and was quickly moving to the top of the bass boat industry under Wood. He married Wood’s oldest daughter, and has worked in most areas of the company during his rise to presidency. He has carried out the company’s slogan: “We still build them one at a time.” “I vividly remember riding in my first Ranger boat,” Hopper said. “We put an engine on it and took it to the lake. It was quite an experience for me, and I never forgot it. Sitting in a boat, watching it hit the waves and feeling vibrations - you get a real feel for the boat, and there is no substitute for that.” Hopper has had a passion for building a better boat ever since he began working for Ranger more than 30 years ago. From that early work with a broom, he moved to spraying gel coats on boat hulls to working a chopper gun on the assembly line before supervising the night shift. He became president of Ranger Boats in 1989. Outdoor Hall of Fame Members 1992 - Forrest Wood, Ben Pearson, Henry Gray, Ruth and Rollie Remmel, and Neil Compton. 1993 - Win Rockefeller, Harold Alexander, Rex Hancock, Larry Nixon, Jane Gulley and Jerry McKinnis. 1994 - George Purvis, Bobby Murray, Jane Stern and Charlie Craig. 1995 - Dave Whitlock, Jane Ross, Bill Apple and George Fisher. 1996 - Pat Peacock Johnston, Joe Nix, George Cochran and Bill Norman. 1997 - Gene Rush, Kay Kelley Arnold and Cotton Cordell. 1998 - Dale Bumpers, Bob Apple, James Flanigan and Rayo Breckenridge. 1999 - Jim Gaston, Carol Griffee and Chick Majors. 2000 - Mike Huckabee, Steve N. Wilson, Mary Klaser and Fred Berry. 2001 - Carl Garner, Richard Davies and Nancy DeLamar. 2002 - Steve Frick, Joe Mosby, Barbara Pardue and John Selig. 2003 - Charlie Hoover, Andrew Hulsey, Zettie Jones and Steve Smith. 2004 - Janet Huckabee, Larry Grisham and Ron Duncan. |
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