Ted Williams

Ted Williams! Even the name inspires awe! "The last of the 400 hitters," "The Kid" and bearing other nicknames, he was regarded as one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.

Born August 30, 1918, named Theodore Samuel Williams, and passed on July 5, 2002, Ted was also a great fly fisher. Williams believed that there were three fish worthy of any true sportsman: tarpon, bonefish and Atlantic salmon. After he retired, following a 19 year career in baseball, mostly at the Boston Red Sox, interrupted for periods of military service in World War 2 and the Korean War, he spent time between a home on the Miramichi River where he salmon fished and Islamorada, Florida where he sought tarpon and bonefish.

Williams called the Atlantic salmon "the greatest of game fish" according to John Underwood, who in 1982 coauthored with Ted a book entitled Ted Williams Fishing "The Big Three."

Ted Williams made what is thought to be the first commercial sports endorsement in history when he made a deal with Sears Roebuck (brokered by another HOF member, Ted Rogowski) and promoted sales of fishing tackle, thus encouraging millions of persons to take up the sport.

For being an icon of fly fishing and for inspiring countless anglers, Ted Williams is now inducted into the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame.