Inductees By Year Class

Charlie Campbell (1933—2020) After a 15-year career as a schoolteacher and basketball coach (including a State Championship and a Coach of the Year Award), Campbell opened a marine dealership in 1974 in Branson, Missouri. That same year, he won the B.A.S.S. Federation...

Tim Tucker (1957 - 2007)— During his 25-year career as an outdoor writer, Tim Tucker was easily one of the most prolific, influential and widely published journalists in the fishing world. A senior writer for Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times magazines from the early...

Steve Price has been a full-time writer and photojournalist since 1973 and a writer/photographer for Bassmaster since 1974. During his writing career, Price has sold more than 3,000 magazine articles, primarily about bass fishing, to such publications as: Field &...

John Powell (1929 - 2007) - John Powell knew from a very early age what it meant to work hard. He grew up on what he called a “rawhide” farm in Elmore County, Alabama, just northeast of Montgomery. Like his father before him, he fished commercially in lakes and rivers...

Irwin L. Jacobs (1941-2019) – Irwin Jacobs was a highly successful businessman in a variety of industries, but his passion for bass fishing was best embodied through his longtime leadership of the FLW Outdoors and ownership of Genmar Industries, the world’s largest...

Woo Daves — Near the end of his long career in professional fishing, Woo Daves won the 2000 Bassmaster Classic in Chicago. In all, he has competed in 17 Classics, finishing among the Top 5 in six of those events. He has won four Bassmaster tournaments, including the...

Dave Precht (1949-  ) — When he retired from B.A.S.S. in July 2019, Dave Precht ended a lengthy career in his “dream job” — educating and entertaining bass anglers through the pages of Bassmaster Magazine. His 40 1/2 years with the company made him the longest-tenured...

Guy Eaker, Sr. — Guy Eaker, Sr. is still competitive in the B.A.S.S. OPEN and the Carolina’s Bass Challenge tournaments at the age of 77, proving that fishing is a sport for all ages. He began fishing at the age of four, when his father, Earl Eaker, took him on his...

Ken Cook (1947—2016) In 1983, Ken Cook walked to a payphone across from the weigh-in stage in Palatka, Florida to phone his wife Tammy and tell her he’d just won $100,000 in the Super B.A.S.S. event, and would soon be quitting his job as a fisheries biologist. It was...

Holmes Thurmond — Through the 1940s, fishing boats for freshwater were either flatbottom barges that were slow and hard to guide with a sculling paddle, or high-prow Vee-hulls that were blown off course by the slightest breeze. Give Holmes A. Thurmond credit for a...

Glen Lau (1933 - 2020) — As a fishing guide for bass, trout and walleye on Lake Erie, Glen Lau was legendary. He offered money-back guarantees to his guide clients, and he never had to pay off. When the King of Ohio Fishing Tournament was held in 1958 to honor the...

Paul Elias — During his 42-year career as a B.A.S.S. pro, Paul Elias has won six tournaments, including the 1982 Bassmaster Classic on the Alabama River in Montgomery, Ala. In that tournament, he introduced his “Kneel ‘N Reel” technique for deep cranking. He used the...

Gerald Crawford — In his nearly 50 years as a professional photographer, Gerald Crawford traveled to many of the world’s most scenic destinations, photographed two future presidents and several movie stars and provided scores of magazine cover photos. But his greatest...

Jack Wingate (1929-2011)—Revered as the “Sage of Seminole,” Jack Wingate started out in the fishing business during Harry Truman’s presidency. He was a tireless promoter of Lake Seminole, a big bass factory on the Georgia/Florida border. As the owner of Wingate’s...

As an avid skin diver, Darrell Lowrance learned much about the schooling habits and preferred locations of freshwater fish. Along with his father, Carl, and brother, Arlen, he set out to design a portable electronic device that would help fishermen and boaters...

Mike Folkestad, who makes his home in Orange, Calif., is nothing short of a fishing legend, although his name isn’t widely recognized outside of his native West Coast domain. However, he did fish back East in Bassmaster Invitationals in the late 1980s and later fished...

Blake Honeycutt (1929 - 2022) Most fans remember Honeycutt of Hickory, N.C., as the holder of the all-time heaviest winning weight in a B.A.S.S. tournament – 138 pounds, 6 ounces at the 3-day Eufaula National in July 1969. A standout angler in the seminal years of the...

Doug Hannon (1947 - 2013)— Big-bass angler, bass conservationist and inventor Doug Hannon was known throughout the bass fishing world as “The Bass Professor.” Hannon was born in Canada and moved to the U.S. at age 7. While an undergraduate in psychology at Tulane...

Rayo Breckenridge (1928—1995) Rayo Franklin Breckenridge was born in 1928 in Beech Grove, Arkansas. After marrying his high school sweetheart, Marilyn Taylor, he settled down and began a successful 20-year career as a cotton farmer. Rayo’s hobbies, outside of his...

Penny Berryman (1958—2012)  - Penny Berryman was born to be a champion. Among her pre-fishing achievements, she was the first runner-up for Miss Kansas in the Miss USA Pageant. She was a competitive water skier for fifteen years, qualifying for the American Water Ski...

Don Wirth, Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the most prolific freelance writers on the bass fishing scene. His articles and photos have appeared in Bassmaster, Bass Times, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, In-Fisherman, Bassin’ and other outdoor publications. Wirth...

Stacey has been bass fishing since he was big enough to hold a rod and guided on his favorite body of water Table Rock Lake for many years.  He became excited about tournament fishing about the time Ray Scott started B.A.S.S.  Stacey competed in local and regional...

Bill Huntley (1933-2022) Bill and his wife Pat started Bumble Bee Bait Company in 1967. They were making spinner baits and jigs at night at the kitchen table. Bill had several sales reps helping to sell his lures even though their primary business was to sell parts...

Harold Allen (1945—) Harold Allen was one of the original members of the legendary “Hemphill Gang”, named by B.A.S.S. founder Ray Scott in reference to the nearby hometown of a group of Texas bass fishing pioneers who guided on Toledo Bend back in the 1970s and ’80s....

Yamamoto, founder of Gary Yamamoto Custom Lures, is credited with numerous innovations in the design and manufacturing of soft plastic lures. His Senko is one of the most important lure developments in recent years, and his other creations, including the Hula Grub,...

Billy is the twin brother of fishing legend Bobby Murray. While his brother is best known for his tournament prowess, Billy was making a name for himself behind the scenes within the industry. Murray’s fingers have been all over the bass fishing world. In 1975 Murray...

George H.W. Bush (1924—2018) The 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush had a major and positive impact on sportfishing in general and bass fishing in particular during his term in office. As Vice President, Bush played a key role in the passage of the...

Starting his writing career in daily newspapers, Louie Stout sold his first article to Bassmaster in the early 1980s. He has been a full-time freelance writer specializing in bass fishing since 1987, and has covered every Bassmaster Classic since 1979. The co-author...

Retiring from the U.S. Army after 20 years of service, Morris Sheehan purchased the Military Bass Anglers Association and changed the name to American Bass Anglers. Through his leadership and foresight, ABA has become the largest tournament trail for weekend anglers,...

Combining his love of fishing and his efforts to promote tourism and economic growth around Sam Rayburn Lake in Southeast Texas, Bob Sealy convinced Ray Scott to bring a Bassmaster event to the lake. From there, he worked his way into creating the world’s largest...