Undergraduate Scholarships

Scholarship sponsored by Mr. & Mrs. Tommy Caruthers and The Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation

Colin Caruthers
1972 – 1990

Colin M. Caruthers was born in 1972 to Tommy and Pat Caruthers. He was just 18 years old at the time of his death in December 1990. Yet, even at this early stage of his life, Colin’s interest in hunting and conservation had become established. He began hunting at age 7 and harvested his first trophy, an impala, on his 8th birthday while on family safari in Botswana, Africa. Four years later he took a record springbok. He also hunted Texas whitetail deer and turkey. Colin showed an extreme interest in wildlife as a youngster, assisting his Dad, a boardmember and past-President of the Dallas Safari Club, with animal displays and auctions at annual conventions and fundraisers.

Colin loved the camaraderie of the hunting lease and learned about safety and ethics from his elder hunting companions. He was a people person and, according to his Mom, Colin had friends of all ages. His interest in people and music eventually prompted him to begin his own disc jockey company called Native Racket while he was still in high school.

To honor his memory, Colin’s parents have established the Colin Caruthers Memorial Scholarship in honor of all young conservationists. Matching funding is provided by the Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation. At the family’s request, this joint scholarship is awarded annually to the State’s top-ranking wildlife student.

Scholarship sponsored by The Shoemaker Family and The Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society.

Carl D. Shoemaker
1882-1969

Carl D. Shoemaker was an Ohio lawyer and the owner/publisher of a newspaper in Roseburg, Oregon when conservation got into his blood and changed the temper of his life for all time. As the result of an editorial written for his newspaper, Mr. Shoemaker became involved with game affairs in Oregon and was appointed as Director of the Oregon Fish and Game Department in 1915. He traveled to Washington, D.C. via Washington and Oregon on various wildlife projects and in 1930 he was appointed Special Investigator of the U. S. Senate Special Committee on the Conservation of Wildlife Resources; later becoming permanent secretary of the committee until its completion in 1947. The committee is best known for the design and drafting of that critical piece of wildlife legislation now known as the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Program (Pittman-Robertson Act) in 1937. Shoemaker drafted the legislation, generated support from the firearms industry, & worked with congressional sponsors Senator Key Pittman and Representative Willis Robertson. In 1936 Carl Shoemaker and Jay N. Ding Darling organized the National Wildlife Federation, a nationwide confederation of hunting and conservation clubs. Mr. Shoemaker served as the organization’s first full-time staff director, guiding the N.W.F. through its difficult formative years prior to his retirement in 1958.

While in Washington, Carl Shoemaker had a hand in drafting most of the notable conservation legislation under which our nation now operates, including: the Dingell-Johnson Act-an excise tax on fishing tackle; the Duck Stamp Act; and the Pittman-Robertson Act-an arms and ammunition tax from which 3 billion dollars has been collected for wildlife and habitat restoration projects.

Mr. Shoemaker was a tireless conservationist and supporter of youth education, and received many accolades during his distinguished career in our Nation’s Capital. He was honored with the prestigious Aldo Leopold Award, conservation’s most prized honor, in 1951; the Department of the Interior’s Special Citation for outstanding service in 1953; and the Medal of Honor in the Hunting and Fishing Hall of Fame. He also served as counsel for the International Association of Game and Fish Commissions and was a member of the Federal Water Pollution Control Advisory Board, and the Agriculture Advisory committee on Soil Conservation. Most recently, in July of 2000 he was recognized with a permanent display in the Conservation Wing of the Safari Club International Museum in Tucson, Arizona. He shares this prestigious honor with conservation icons Aldo Leopold, President Theodore Roosevelt, Charles Sheldon, George Bird Grinnell, and Jack Wildgoose Miner.

The Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society joins the Shoemaker family in paying tribute to his legacy through the establishment of the Carl D. Shoemaker Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship will be awarded annually in conjunction with the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society Scholarship to a deserving student in the field of wildlife science.

Scholarship sponsored by the Texas Wildlife Association.

Charly McTee
1932 – 1997

Arthur Charles McTee, or Charly as he was known, was a native of Grayson County near Sherman, the eldest of 8 children. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin where in 1962 he completed work for his PhD in Experimental Psychology. Charly served as general manager of the Texas Wildlife Association during the years preceding his death in 1994. But, in a storied career he also served as auto repairman, human factors engineer in aviation research, fishing lure manufacturer, radio talk show host, competitive caster, toastmaster, chili cook-off judge, outdoor writer, and tireless champion for youth in the outdoors. He was an early member of the Alamo Bass Club and co-founded the Austin Anglers and Hill Country Casting Clubs to promote fishing as a lifetime sport. He delighted in teaching kids to fish and hunt by escorting numerous youth education trips across Texas and his enthusiasm was contagious. In between he conducted guided tours of the radio station where he worked for visiting Girl Scout Troops. But perhaps Charly’s greatest legacy will be for helping found the Texas Youth Hunting Association through TWA.

A former board member of the Texas Outdoor Writers Association, Charly hosted a daily outdoors show on KKYX radio from 1972 to 1990. He was also a member and officer of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and the American Casting Association. With TWA he edited the organization’s magazine and coordinated the annual convention until he was diagnosed with leukemia in August, 1995, but continued to host youth programs and write his popular column Travels With Charly. In 1985, Charly was named Sportsman of the Year by the Anglers Club of San Antonio.

Charly McTee was a giant of a man and spent his life spreading the story of responsible stewardship and outdoor recreation to Texans – both young and old. As sharing Texans’ outdoor heritage with young people was his passion, it is only fitting that his legacy live on through a scholarship funded for future wildlife professionals. The Charly McTee Scholarship is funded annually by the Texas Wildlife Association in memory of Charly – the man whose generosity, wit, intellect, and love for the outdoors was legendary. It has been said that the greatest measure of a man is the friends that he has left behind. The Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society joins the Texas Wildlife Association in honoring the memory of this friend to wildlife by awarding this scholarship in his memory.