2012 Inductee

Hall of Fame

Keith Hickman

Below if the letter provided for Keith Hickman on his Roger M. Latham Service Award. The letter captures the dedication and commitment to NWTF and the hunting heritage.

Nomination of Mr. Keith Hickman
for the Roger M. Latham Service Award

A. Keith is a longtime member of the NWTF, helped create his home chapter, the TN River
Longbeards, as well as others across the state, has been a committee member and a
past President for 22 years. This chapter has been recognized as one of the top chapters
in our State for attendance, Jakes memberships, and gross revenue. As the PGA
professional at Paris Landing State Park golf course, he was instrumental in the park
becoming the first Certified Audobon Cooperative Sanctuary and a Guardian Green Site
in 2004 for their efforts in environmental planning, wildlife and habitat management,
chemical use reduction and safety, water conservation, water quality management and
outreach and educational programs. He has also been a member of the Tennessee State
Chapter Board of Directors as a past president and superfund committee member and
as such, has been instrumental in guiding funds to chapters for habitat improvement,
wildlife seed programs and funding for trapping and tagging wild turkeys for research
purposes.
B. Keith was heavily involved with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency in the late
1980’s as part of the trapping and relocation program of wild turkeys from the Land
Between the Lakes National Recreational Area to surrounding Tennessee counties.
C. Keith has led by example in supporting our state game laws by appearing on popular
podcasts such as “Outdoors with Larry Rhea” discussing game laws, violations, and bag
limits, as a repeat guest speaker and mentor for the Covenant Ranch, which operates to
educate at risk young men and woman in hunting ethics, fishing, and outdoor skills.

D. As a State Chapter, Board of Directors, Superfund Committee member, Keith always
looks for ways to use that funding source to help mitigate the loss of healthy habitat,
preserve our public land hunting and fishing opportunities, build rapport with our state
Wildlife Resources Agency partners to further enhance the preservation of healthy
habitat and the wild turkey. During his six year tenure as State Chapter President,
approved expenditures of $200K, which was co-opted with $474K, for habitat work
alone.
E. Keith’s participation on Podcasts, televised Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission
meetings, mentoring at Jakes events, numerous speaking engagements at the St. Jude Hunt for a Cure, and Covenant Ranch, led Keith to be awarded the coveted 2019
Tennessee Outdoorsman of the Year award for his tireless efforts to help others enjoy
our great state’s outdoors and help to preserve and protect our resources.
F. Keith routinely attends the public meetings and hearings of our Tennessee Wildlife
Resource Commission to see whether or not politics are the determining factor involving
any changes to our game laws, bag limits, or season structure. He pushes to ensure that
those decisions are science based on current wildlife management principles, not
demands and comments from each commissioner’s constituency.
G. Keith has always contributed to the NWTF in multiple ways, being a committee member
and past president of one of the largest chapters in our state, The TN River Longbeards,
this chapter produces the most Jakes members and events each year, as well as an
extremely high Net profit. His efforts have helped his local chapter in receiving the ‘LA
Dixon Award’ recognition.
H. Keith was one of the first organizers of the “Hunt for a Cure” event that supports St.
Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, TN. To date this event has raised well over a
million dollars to help fight and eradicate children’s cancer. As a Superfund Committee
member Keith helps monitor all of our statewide Jakes events, Woman in the Outdoors
events, and our regional habitat programs get funded to the best of his ability.
I. As well as being a longtime NWTF member and supporter, Keith has served as a
committee member for Ducks Unlimited for over 22 years. He has also been a Primos
Pro Staffer since 1998. He has always been a leader in voicing his conservation and
sportsmanship ideologies, through sound ethics while mentoring our youth in wildlife
education through the “Hunt for a Cure”, Covenant Ranch, and numerous Jakes days.
J. Keith has always led by example as a dedicated conservationist, helping create the first
state park golf course as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, introducing
honeybee hives on that property to help with wildflower pollination, while educating
the public about the great habitat accomplishments through being recognized as a
Guardian Green Site by the Audubon society and has been recertified seven times since
the original designation. Keith has also been inducted into the Tennessee Turkey
Hunters Hall of Fame for his dedicated service and contributions made to the NWTF at
the State and National level. Keith has accumulated 30 Grand slams, 8 Royal slams, and
2 World Slams during his hunting adventures.