Inductee

Jim Bagley (1923—2004) Jim never won a national bass tournament but, instead, dedicated his life to assuring that anglers all over the world have some of their happiest days on the water by creating some of the best fish catching lures ever made. Born in Safety Harbor, Florida on July 24, 1923, with a hard working mom, who was his family’s sole provider and his mentor, taught him he could accomplish anything in life that he truly wanted. His first job, at the age of 7 was pulling straws at an “ice plant”.

In the mid 1950s he became famous for his “New Black Magic Eel”. Of the over 143 different fishing lures, none were better known than the “Bang-o-Lure”, the “Balsa B”, the “Diving B”, the “Kill’r B”, the “007”, “Mighty Minnow”, and the “Salty Dog”. At one time, he was credited with helping win four BassMaster Classics, including being a part of both the 2003 and 2004 Classic wins. He started the “Super Line” craze, when he brought “Bagley’s Silverthread Fishing Line” to market, from 1983-1993.

By the time he retired, in 1992, his “little bait company” was employing as many as 170 people, in Winter Haven, Florida. an accomplishment that he held dear to his heart.

In addition to everything else this great american did, he also served in the US Army Air Corps, in World War Two, and flew 51 missions as a ball turret gunner, where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross along with other metals. Those of us who were privileged to know him, knew of his love of flying… especially when he’d show up for a tackle show or fishing tournament in his bright orange helicopter.

Jim Bagley won many awards, including: the Pradco Legend Award for contributions to the fishing tackle industry; the Dolphin Award; the Living Legends of American Sports Fishing award; the Big Business Gold Cup of Industry Award, and was awarded a charter membership into the International Fishing Hall of Fame,

Mr. Bagley passed away at the age of 80 in February 2004

Chris began fishing as a small child on the banks of the Illinois river, in northeastern Oklahoma. In 1961, she met a high school senior, by the name of Jimmy Houston and this chance encounter would forever change her life.

In 1968, this couple both fished “the World Series of Sport Fishing” tournament, on Lake Texoma, where she won the Women’s division, while her husband won the Men’s division and they collectively won the Mr. & Mrs. division.

In 1977, along with several other ladies from the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, she organized the first ever all women’s bass club, “the Tulsa Bass Belles”. Chris won the “Miss Bass Belle” award many times, while she fished with the club, when it was uncommon for women to be seen out fishing in a boat by themselves. In the early 70’s,Project Sports, Inc. (PSI) held national bass tournaments throughout the South and invited women to fish. In the late 70’s, she dominated the “Bass’n Gal” circuit” for many years, winning the “Bass’n Gal” “angler of the year” title seven times and the “Bass’n Gal” Classic three times.

In 1987, Chris Houston was named to the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, and she also fished in every “Legends of Fishing” tournament that has been held by Bass Pro Shops. Chris retired from professional fishing when “Bass’n Gal” discontinued their circuit. She is the first female inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Dee Thomas (1937 – 2022) Dee Thomas is undoubtedly the most celebrated bass angler from the west coast and he stands tall among the legends of the sport. In 1975, Thomas traveled east to test his skill in the big B.A.S.S. Invitationals. He won the event at Bull Shoals with a revolutionary new technique he called “flippin”. His special fishing method changed the entire sport. Thomas quickly became known as the “Father of Flippin”.

Today, every bass boat made incorporates a flippin deck. And, every successful touring pro carried an assortment of flippin sticks. When Dee returned to California, he taught his friend Dave Gliebe this skill. Gliebe used his new talent to win two BASS Masters Invitationals the next year. Flippin was here to stay!

Dee worked closely with Dave Myers of Fenwick Rods to perfect the first ever flippin stick. Today, all rod manufacturers offer an assortment of “flippin sticks”. Most of them are little changed from Thomas’ original design.

As a young man, Dee Thomas made the tough decision to stay out west with his family instead of chasing the big BASS circuit in the east. He dominated the Western Bass circuit, winning 13 western tour events, Angler of the Year three times and he qualified for the first ten TOC’s (a record). He won their TOC’s at Pine Flat and Lake Havasu. When West Coast Bass and WON Bass became the dominant western circuits, Thomas won several West Coast Bass Pro-Ams and two of their “West Coast Bass Classics” in back to back years. He was Angler of the Year with West Coast Bass. In ten of WON’s US Opens on Lake Mead, he placed in the money seven times. Dee has over 30 wins as a pro and over 100 money finishes. He’s still at it! At age 68, he won a National Bass Association tournament on his beloved California Delta with the staggering weight of 41.78 pounds for seven fish!

The Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame inducted Dee Thomas in the year 2000 for his lifetime impact on bass fishing. The California Sportsmen Hall of Fame inducted Dee in 2006 and now the Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame has joined in honoring him for both his personal accomplishments and for his overall contribution to the sport.

When Dee is asked, “What is your most important accomplishment in bass fishing?” He does not hesitate to answer, “I am proud to have taught lots and lots of people how to fish. If I leave any legacy, I hope it’ll be a bunch of folks who love fishing and who take the time to share it with others, especially kids.”

The late Bill Norman established a name for himself by building an internationally known fishing lure company, Norman Lures company in Greenwood, Arkansas.

Many people have created fishing lures that caught fish, but few have also had the ability to hook fishermen first. Over his 20 year career, Norman had the ability to anticipate and predict the future of bass fishing and capitalize on it, to the benefit of the explosive bass fishing industry.

Norman brought his boyhood love of fishing into his adult life when, after serving in the military and some early work years, he took his fishing interest into a business venture with Wood Lures, a Conway, AR, firm.

While Wood Lures had a proven track record selling a lure called the Spottail Minnow lures that were made of cedar, balsa, and other woods were giving way to plastic lures in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

It was about this time that Norman joined the Fort Smith firm that became Plastics Research and Development Company (PRADCO), where his experience with assembly line methods worked well with other company employees knowledge of plastics. It was also the heyday of the alphabet bass lures. The pioneer Big O, carved from wood, shifted to plastic and drew rivals called the Super R and later, Norman’s Big N.

When Bill Norman left PRADCO, he moved a few miles south to Greenwood and built Norman Manufacturing. His moved coincided closely with the rapid growth of organized bass fishing and the debut of bass tournament fishing as a sports vocation.

Being an early pioneer, Norman looked at major bass tournaments as a route to get his lures before the general public. He was among the first, if not the first, to sponsor a Pro Team of professional anglers on the national bass circuits and he competed himself in some of the early BASS events.

Throughout his life Bill Norman successfully assembled a staff of innovators and pushed hard to remain a step ahead in the changing fishing world, and today his Norman Little ‘N; DD22; the Tiny ‘N and N-Ticer are standards in many anglers tackle boxes around the world.

Stan is one of the pioneers of bass fishing in the western United States. No one in that part of the country has written more about bass fishing. He began writing immediately after returning from almost two years of serving in an infantry rifle company in the jungles of the South Pacific during World War II. He has been at it ever since.

Stan is an award-winning outdoor writer who has written for a variety of prestigious publications including Bassmaster, Bassin, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Sports Afield and many others. He has written countless newspaper columns. Most of his writing is currently appearing in four different Internet columns.

Stan is equally recognized for his artistry with a rod. Known internationally as “The Master Caster,” he has been featured in outdoor shows since 1952. His skills with casting and spinning equipment have taken him from Tulsa to Tokyo and from Birmingham to Brazil. Years ago Covey Bean, an outdoor writer for the Sunday Oklahoman, wrote: “When Stan Fagerstrom talks casting, people listen.” Decades have passed since those words were written, but today folks still watch and listen as this white-haired wonder works his casting magic.

Stan’s casting has been featured in a variety of television shows both here and abroad. He was, for example, a guest on the Jo Soares evening program while appearing at an outdoor show in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Soares is often called the “David Letterman of South America.” Stan also gave a private casting demonstration for Japan’s Princess Nobuko while participating in a major outdoor show in Tokyo.

Stan was the only writer from the Pacific Northwest invited to the first Bassmasters Classic at Lake Mead. He covered more than 30 Classics for a variety of publications in ensuing years. When Stan wasn’t riding along with a Classic competitor, he was giving casting demonstrations at the Classic Outdoor Show.

Fagerstrom has won numerous awards for his writing. Some of his poetry dealing with fishing has been widely published in both printed media and on the internet. Besides his newspaper and magazine work, he has written three books on fishing and starred in two instructional videos on casing.

Stan does more than write about fishing. Early in his career he participated in the Oregon Bass & Panfish Club’s annual “Biggest Bass Contest.” He won all five years in which he competed. Stan is a long time member of the Outdoor Writers of America and a charter member of the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association. He has been inducted into the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. In 2001 he was presented with the National Professional Anglers Association’s Honorary Lifetime membership award.

Watch one of Stan’s casting exhibitions and you’ll hear him say the same thing each time he winds up. It’s this: “The next best thing to fishing is having a chance to write or talk about it. I thank you and I thank God for giving me another opportunity to do that here today.

Mr. Fagerstrom passed away at the age of 96 in June 2019

Basil Bacon (1937—) Basil was the first person to design a “flippin’” button on a baitcasting reel. The “flippin’” button, which is now standard equipment on just about every freshwater baitcasting reel in the world, helped anglers learn the new “flippin” technique that was being developed back in the early-to-mid 70’s.

In addition to the “flippin’” button, Bacon was also a pioneer in developing the raised “flippin’” deck that is now incorporated on bass boats. Bacon was also the gentleman who invented the four-bladed prop that is so often used to achieve maximum performance on today’s modern bass boats.

But all of Bacon’s expertise is not in the design and manufacture of fishing and marine equipment. Bacon is also one of the finest lure designer’s in American fishing history.

Over the years, Basil has designed such fishing lure classic’s as the Bacon Rind and Bacon Strip soft plastic lures and the Wakin’ Bacon spinnerbait.

Since 1971, when Bacon began fishing along the various professional tournament trails, Basil qualified for nine BASS Master Classics; captured two B.A.S.S. tournament titles; was the Angler-of-the-Year in 1973 and 1974 for the Project Sports Bass Tournament Trail; won two Fisherman’s Bass tournaments; won three Bass Casters Association tournaments; won an Anglers Choice Pro Division Classic and most recently captured the 2002 Wal*Mart FLW Tour Event on Old Hickory Lake, outside of Nashville.

Throughout his distinguished tournament career, Basil Bacon has placed in the Top 10 in more than 40 B.A.S.S. tournaments and has recorded more that 125 Top 10 finishes along the various tournament trails he’s competed on.