Inductees

A lifelong outdoorsman, long–time professional guide, expert marksman, Captain of the Bass Pro Shops’ RedHead® Pro Hunting Team, host of multiple outdoors TV shows, and holder of multiple Grand Slams, Outdoor Sports inductee Jerry Martin has spent a lifetime sharing and promoting conservation and outdoor sports.

Helping to shape and develop the industry we know today, Martin holds multiple muzzleloading trophies, is a member of the National Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame, and was part of the first group of sportsmen Armed Forces Entertainment ever sent to visit troops in the Persian Gulf.

This impact on the outdoors industry and work promoting the outdoors is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Jerry Martin with the Class of 2020.

Jerry grew up on a farm near the small town of Thayer, not far from the Eleven Point River in south-central Missouri, where became a hunter almost naturally.

Saying it is just what farm folks did, Martin learned to hunt from his Grandpa Clark, dad and brothers.

Developing his hunting skills on the squirrels, rabbits, and quail available in southern Missouri during his childhood would help hone the precision Martin would show later on.

“Dad used to buy a box of 50 .22 shells and he expected 50 squirrels,” Martin said.

A 1966 graduate of Thayer High School, Jerry followed the path set by two of his brothers when he joined the Navy. From 1966 to 1970, Martin found himself flying on P3 patrol planes and leading F4 Phantom ground crews, including time on the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier.

After his service, he worked several years on a 70,000-acre cattle ranch in Arizona, attended Central Arizona University on the G.I. Bill, and then moved back to Missouri. Martin later headed off to Alaska for a few years, where he hunted moose, caribou, brown bear, and Dall sheep before getting a call he will never forget.

Martin loves to tell the story. The caller was Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris, who was looking to build Bass Pro Shops’ national hunting reputation. He wanted Martin to take him deer hunting.

“I guess he had heard about my hunting and guiding,” Martin said with a laugh. “At the time, I wasn’t interested in working for him. But he knew my brother Bob, who had fished with him on the B.A.S.S. tour and told Morris about my hunting of elk and muleys in Arizona and moose, bear, caribou and mountain sheep in Alaska.”

“So, I took him to Thayer on the Friday night before the season opened on Saturday morning. I had no idea he was interviewing me.”

That Saturday morning, Morris successfully killed a 7-point buck that still hangs in his office. That buck would prove be the first of many big game firsts shared by Morris and Martin.

Jerry accepted Morris’ offer months later and went on to help make Morris’ vision for Bass Pro’s hunting reputation a reality.

It was Martin who put together the RedHead Pro Hunting Team on television’s popular “Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World” TV show, which would air for 20-plus years.

One of only four outdoors shows on TV when it began airing on TNN, “Outdoor World” attracted a wide audience and aired 26 shows a season, always showcasing fair chase hunts. It drew 1 million viewers a week at its high point, helping to fuel hunting’s rapid growth across the country.

Through the years, Martin would continue to promote outdoors sports on TV, co-hosting several Bass Pro Shops shows. He also helped Bass Pro launch its Next Generation Team, a group designed to introduce hunting and the outdoors to women and children.

Martin has earned numerous turkey Grand Slam titles by taking all four species of U.S. wild turkey with muzzleloader, shotgun and bow. He has also earned numerous Royal Slams, which includes the Gould turkey in Mexico.

He also has dozens of trophy whitetail deer kills over his career, with several scoring more than 200 points in the Boone and Crockett Club system.

It all adds up to a noteworthy career that has kept Martin on the go through the years.

“It has been a whirlwind (career),” said Martin, a husband, dad, and grandpa. “I’d just like to be remembered as someone who loves the outdoors and wants to leave it better than it is and to pass it on!”