Live from the TRPL #2: Johnny Morris and Gov. Kelly Armstrong on Conservation, Commerce, and the Great Outdoors

JOHNNY MORRIS:

And the tour director, she said, "Johnny, it would've been so easy. This family, they could have taken privilege, but they chose not to. They chose to be leaders right there on the front." So it's not all ironic, but it's very special that timing, our nation's birthday, celebrate President Roosevelt, celebrate freedom, celebrate conservation at this time. It's pretty special.

TED ROOSEVELT V:

Welcome to Live from the TRPL on Good Citizen, a podcast from the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. I'm Ted Roosevelt. The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library officially opened its doors on July 4th, 2026. And in the days leading up to it, the brand new auditorium hosted some really special talks, interviews, and panel discussions. These featured a striking lineup of voices, including historians, conservationists, architects, and political leaders. I wanted to give our podcast listeners a chance to hear some of these great speakers. So we've put together a short series, six episodes over six weeks. In this episode, North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong interviews one of his heroes, Bass Pro Shop's founder, Johnny Morris. The conversation is built around an idea TR himself championed, that hunters and anglers are some of our most committed conservationists and that conservation and commerce don't have to be at odds. They can actually pull in the same direction.

Johnny Morris exemplifies that and you'll hear his personal stories from selling fishing lures out of his dad's liquor store to building a multi-billion dollar private company with the goal of getting people outside. Importantly, the discussion also turns to kids, how to get them to turn off their devices and step outside. Now, fair warning, this conversation meanders through business, family, and the outdoors in a way that's hard to sum up neatly. There are a few tangents and Johnny can't resist greeting half the room by name along the way, but it takes some genuinely poignant turns, especially when he tells the crowd about a trip to Normandy and his father's service during World War II. It's also got a strong thread of patriotism, fitting for a weekend built around the nation's 250th birthday. So get yourself comfortable. This one is a good one.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

I'm about as excited as you could possibly be. Earlier today, somebody asked me if you'd get nervous talking in public anymore and I'm like, I really don't, but it took about 20 years of public speaking before I noticed it. But there's not very many times that I get to sit up here in front of such a great group of people and literally interview one of my heroes. So I'm going to resist the urge to talk a lot because I think not only can each and every one of you all learn from what we're going to hear from Johnny, but I think I can learn a lot. And as somebody who's in charge of all state-based conservation and hunting and fishing and trying to figure out how we do this for the next generation in North Dakotans, I'm really excited to hear what you have to say today.

So I couldn't be more proud to be up here with you and I'm really fired up. And I know 45 minutes seems like a long time, but it is not. So I'm going to dive right into this because I want to hear all the answers. Johnny, Theodore Roosevelt's love of wildlife was sparked as he collected birds, bats, rodents he found in Central Park and while your love of wildlife was sparked back as a child bass fishing with your dad in the Ozarks, that love of fishing eventually led you to selling your favorite lures out of your dad's liquor store. Both of you turned a childhood love of nature into something far bigger for conservation. Can you just take us through how this started?

JOHNNY MORRIS:

I'm a happy lucky guy. Spent my whole life around fishing. Governor, you said some kind words to me and about me and just the feelings the same to be across this little table from you, sir, your passion for your state, but for conservation and being a fellow sportsman to sit here next to you. I got to hear the governor speak a while back at a conservation dinner in Dallas and man, powerful. So you got to hear one side is a very powerful communicator. Then on this side, well, here we go. But what a happy day, okay? Happy birthday, America, the greatest nation ever.

I was in one of these meetings a little bit in the audience a little bit earlier and Kate McGregor, it was saluted as her birthday. So happy birthday, Kate. It's another reason for a happy day. Last Saturday, my bride that's here and I got to celebrate 40 mainly happy years of marriage and Jeanie loves taking care of kids. She's got 10 grandkids now we do, plus me she takes care of. So thank you, hun. And we just found out last night we were having dinner and Nick and Evelyn Wiley, all of our conservation heroes, they just celebrated 36 years yesterday and Marilyn and Clyde Vetter. I was at a quail Pheasants Forever dinner last week and they were celebrating 39 years. So here's the happy hunting and fishing and romance.

I was walking through earlier the facility. I wouldn't even call it a library. It's an inspirational part of American history. It's getting transferred forward into the future. And I walked in and there was a quote from Roosevelt that said, "For your children, your children's children, and for all who come after you." And I think that's what, I mean, he said those words many years ago, but for me, it's an honor to say thank you to everyone in this room for your passion, for your generosity, the large donors, the smaller donors. And I see heroes in life and conservation that mean beyond money who've given their whole life to advance the cause of conservation. And what an inspiration President Roosevelt was and will always be in this library, this facility carries that mission forward, that message.

Our North American model of conservation, governor, you mentioned about hunters and anglers, sportsmen and women. They've been since the days of Audubon. And I was reading going through the museum again reminded that President Roosevelt was studying Audubon when he was 14 years old as a boy. He was reading about what did they have in common? They were both hunters and they threw their time in the woods and in nature, they gained appreciation for the importance of habitat, for regulation, being for good custodians of what God's given us. So I just, from every sportsman out there, from everybody that may enjoy the great outdoors or come to know the joys of the great outdoors from all of us, I just to say thank you to everybody in this room. And I look out and I see Steve Shields as well. So it's a common denominator, the great outdoors and this facility is so great.

And there's large donors here, Harold Hamm and so many people. I probably shouldn't get into all my buddy Dale Hall, these conservation, Simon Roosevelt, Ted Roosevelt V was with him for a little bit last night. Talked about a family and Hank Williams Jr. had this whole song Family Traditions. They run deep and people think sometimes about hunting and fishing, it's a trophy fish or a trophy buck or whatever. It's mainly the trophy memories that come from sharing time together outdoors and just having happy times in nature, Colin O'Meara. I just carry hands, there's so many. Casey Walsh, I see Casey right there.

In the business, but a generous heart to give back. It's common in here and the Shields family, so many people. And it's great. We appreciate your generosity and made this happen. And President Trump making an effort to be here, being a part of this yesterday to come to help put the spotlight here. And you think about conservation, it should be and it is a unifier. Republicans, Democrat, what it should bring and it does bring people together and this facility will help that continue to happen and that makes us all proud. And then Secretary Burgum, Buddy, thank you. Just your passion and your hometown area here, Robbie Lauf, the whole team that's been a part of putting this together. Hope you and your families are very proud because for this to happen and been planned to happen on this important birthday in our nation's history, it's just incredible.

And man, we're proud of all you. And Ed O'Keefe and Dan Muse, just congratulations to walk through that place. I'm going to drift off again before I answer your question.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

Hey, I'm letting him cook guys.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

You said that. So one of my favorite things, I love to fish, if you didn't know that. So one of my favorite quotes ever was from Zane Gray and he wrote this in a book that was published in 1926. He'd been on a big adventure fishing trip. Okay. It's called Tales of the Anglers Eldera. I though Jeanie was up here. Okay. Anyway, it's beautiful words about fishing, but it could be true. It's a powerful message beyond fishing. "There is always something wonderful about a new fishing adventure trip for a single day or for a week or for months. The enchantment never fades. For years on end, I've been trying to tell why, but that has been futile, like Jason's quest for the golden fleece. The most humble fisherman has this in common with fishermen of all degrees. Whatever it is that haunts in a chance surely grows with experience.

Even the thousandth trip to the same old familiar fished out stream begins with renewed hope, with unfailing faith. "Quién sabe," as the Spaniards say, you cannot tell what you might catch. And even if you do not catch anything, the joy is somehow there. The child is father to the man. Saturdays and vacation times call everlastingly to the boy. The pond, the stream, the river, the lake and the sea. Something ever more is about to happen. Every fishing trip is a composite of all other trips and it holds irresistible promise for the future. That cup cannot be drained. There are always greater fish than you have caught. Always the lure of greater task and achievement. Always the inspiration to seek, to endure, to find, always the beauty of the lonely stream and the open sea. Always the glory and dream of nature." And man, that cuts to it, the glory and dream of nature.

And that's a lot about what this place is about to all of us. And so to answer your question about how you get in the fishing business, I feel blessed by God, like live in the greatest country, free enterprise system. You can sell bait, you can do whatever you want. I was blessed, me and my parents loved the outdoors. They would always take time to make it a priority to take me and my sister's fishing and to introduce us and just be able to follow a passion. So we grew up fishing, gosh, we're 33 minutes into this?

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

Yeah. No, we have 33 minutes left.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

Okay, good. We didn't spend a lot of time on —

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

We're starting to answer the first question.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

I was being happy for a minute. Okay. What was the first question?

Anyway, when you can follow your passion, and I think one thing, I know this, Bass Pro Shops, our company would not be, but for one thing, and that's conservation. And if kids can't go out and get their rod bent, if there aren't fish in public waters, if there's just not wildlife, and that's the core of our business. And I'm so grateful my mom and dad, I'm going to show this picture. Well, I didn't drink because I knew my body could see it, but there was a picture. We used to draw names for Christmas and I get my dad draws my name one year. So I told you I was unorganized and you're appreciating it now. So my dad draws my name, so I can't wait. I'm about 16 or 17. I though, man, maybe I'm going to get a new truck or something. So he gives me this gift box.

I open it up and it was a picture of my mom and my dad and a bird dog and they had a handful of quail. And so I said, oh boy, whoopdy-doo. This wasn't quite a while. But then I turned that picture over and it had something that my dad wrote on the back and I want to share it with everybody. John L. In this picture are four joys of my life. Jenny, your mother, you, my son, three months from touchdown, Pat, our best bird dog and a handful of feathers that made our day. Merry Christmas, 1985 dad. And I shared that because of the joy. And you know this governor and fellow spending time in nature and the memories for my dad to make that a priority, I wouldn't take anything for that gift. It's the best present and just the time, the memories that people can make.

And one thing I felt about this museum strongly is just every family's got to bring their kids to come here and appreciate nature.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

I'm a little disappointed because I thought both Steve Shields and Johnny Morris would say the only reason Bass Pro Shopper Shields existed is because I spend so much time in both of those stores. I feel like I —

JOHNNY MORRIS:

We're both kind of half happy with that answer.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

I am going to ask —

JOHNNY MORRIS:

He's probably mad at it because he lives here.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

This one, so Secretary Burgum and I just did a podcast and one of the questions, it seems like when we talk about conservation, there's far too many people that think it's an either or thing, right? It's either conservation or business, but Roosevelt believed in conservation and commerce could pull in the same direction when business leaders chose to do so. You obviously have done that. You obviously have a passion for that. You have Bass Pro Shops and the Wonders of the Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium are built on that bat. But I think really for this is what does it take practically to run a profitable business that genuinely serves conservation and what could other business leaders in this room who are ever watched this learn from how you guys have approached that?

JOHNNY MORRIS:

Thank you. Well, we've grown, and I say not just me, but the teammates in our company and our customers. I mean, our folks, they've come to believe this about how important conservation is for future of the sports that we love, but also just for business. And we have this belief and it's clearly to achieve really meaningful things, to achieve great things in life, but particularly in conservation, it does take teamwork. It takes people reaching out to each other. And we need our federal agencies, they do great work. We need regulation. Our state agency is the same, but you can't achieve true greatness and conservation just through regulation. It takes everyone reaching out. And when you get agencies working with private companies, businesses and conservation organizations, the NGOs and then individuals, when everybody gets united behind causes, man, that's when the magic really happens. That's when it's powerful.

And that's what this, I keep going back to this, but that's what all this hard work that you put into creating this, that's going to help carry that torch. And I think too, there's things that private sector or business can lend a hand. I think back in my home state of Missouri in 1976, we passed this legislation. It's called Design for Conservation and he's pointing at that. Am I running over?

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

Oh no. I was just saying it said hold the mic closer. We're trying to be a little subtle about it.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

All right. Thanks for the nudge. So it doesn't work with me too good. So anyway, the citizens of Missouri voted to self-impose a one-eighth 1% sales tax general to be earmarked to go to conservation. Well, the state and their conservation department couldn't spend public money to lobby for this, but we as a supporter on a private, we bought up a lot of TV ads, newspaper. We helped get this word out so that the citizens of Missouri could be informed and they made the decision to vote for this tax. And for all these many years, that started off at over a hundred million dollars a year. Today, I couldn't tell you, but it's very substantial support that the citizens of Missouri are proud of and it's done a tremendous amount of good. And that's one example that comes to my mind.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

And the landowners like it, right? The farmers and ranchers and the people utilizing that got to make a living on that landing.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

Yes. And it's so great. And you talk about habitat the other day and earlier this morning there's talk about habitat. Well, in our Missouri law, one thing that's revenue generated is even rewarding landowners, farmers. If they leave up to 10% of their crop in the field for wildlife, it has to meet certain criteria. But if it does, that's just another benefit there. And I would say this too, there's a conversation about private land this morning and public. I do believe in the state of Missouri, I know this, that the farmers and landowners, they view the Missouri Department of Conservation as their friend, their ally, and they can come and help them manage their land better. And they're not fearful that some agency's going to come with Missouri Department anyway and find that their great grandpa dumped something he shouldn't have and they lose the family farm.

It's more friendly. And it's like in any business, you give somebody a pat on the back for doing something right instead of just having an attitude of let's try to catch everybody stumping their toe. We have to have laws and things, but I just think this cooperative spirit and the biggest thing that we can help do, one of them is with communication so the citizens of our country can make more well-informed. The good news, everybody has a lot of passion today about conservation. It's just being informed to make the right common sense decisions.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

Well, we don't have a ton of trees in North Dakota and all of that, but we have grasses. And what we know is truly dormant land ends up losing its biodiversity in a really quick hurry, right? The brom grass chokes out the flowering grass, then you have no bugs, then you have no dew, then you have no nesting cover and all of that. So working lands when you're doing it properly actually brings more ducks, more pheasants, more butterflies, more deer and more of the different things involved. And that benefits every cattle rancher in Western North Dakota, benefits anybody who wants to chase a mildew or an antelope around. I mean, I think sometimes we don't do a good enough job as sportsmen and as state regulators of explaining that really working with the land is actually good for everything involved on it.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

Yes. And another opportunity is just to celebrate the role that sportsmen and women have played hunters and anglers through their generosity with lobbying to have self-imposed tax for 10% or so on all fishing gear and shotgun shells, shotguns. It goes back to the vast majority of funding for state fish and wildlife agencies does come from the sale of fishing license, hunting license, duck stamp, and purchase of sporting goods.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

So you're talking about the funding that the outdoorsmen do for that, but I mean, patterns are changing. We're seeing less kids get involved in both hunting and fishing. And so what do you see happening in the next generation of hunters and fishermen and what does conservation movement need to do to keep them in the fold and keep moving forward? I took cell phones out of K through 12. I hope that helps.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

Good for you. Yay, good. That's great.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

And by me, I mean my state legislature did it and I got to sign it, but it was very much a team effort.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

Okay. Well, Colin O'Meara mentioned earlier on a panel, and I'd heard this before, kids are spending nine hours a day, and my own grandkids, I got to nudge them. It's so captivating the cell phone or the iPad. And I think just one of our big responsibilities, we have this thing, take a kid fishing, you'll be happy you did, or take a kid outdoors. How do we introduce people to get out, take time to get out in nature? Roosevelt, I mean, that's the example. Why he came here to the Badlands years ago to heal himself and just be rejuvenated by mother nature.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

I told somebody the other day, well, you've heard me speak on this. I mean, this is my passion. One in North Dakota, we want to keep. North Dakota, for those that don't know, 94% is privately owned. 94% of North Dakota is privately owned land. We don't have a habitat program if we don't have farmers and ranchers buying into it. We need the commodity groups engaged in it. We need everybody engaged in it. Obviously, the ag economy's stressed right now. There are new technologies in agriculture. And I told my outdoor heritage fund, I went and spoke to him the other morning. I said, "If you guys do three things for six years, you will absolutely move the needle on this." And I said, "Fund our habitat program, plant trees, and fix boat ramps." So —

JOHNNY MORRIS:

I like this guy.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

And I mean that because we can do all of this great conservation, but if people aren't utilizing it, if people aren't going out and touching grass and learning how to fish and learning how to hunt, learning to hike, mountain bike, whatever that is. And so part of this is making sure that we're preserving these things. Roosevelt, 230 million acres of land, but the next century is going to be about expanding access and how we get private landowners to want to allow people to come in and do it and how we get the next generation to want to be a part of that.

I don't want to speak for you, but I'm going to because that's what I do sometimes. Just sitting up here and talking to you and listening to this, and I said this, I've seen this over the last 24 hours, there's an emotional experience and reaction that's occurring for new people who are out here. And when you are emotionally tied to something, you'll want to show your friends, you'll want to show your family, you'll want to bring the next group of people here. And if we can start doing that with places, well, there aren't very many places of any places exactly like this, but there are fantastic places to hunt and fish in Missouri. There are fantastic places to hunt and fish in Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming, all across the country. I'm genuinely curious from somebody who has been in this business his whole life. I haven't thought of the silver bullet yet, but how and what should we be doing as policymakers and as businessmen and as people who care about conservation to really truly figure out how to get the next generation of Americans engaged and involved in this?

JOHNNY MORRIS:

Yeah. And that's family sports. The one bright spot is the involvement of young people and a lot more girls and women coming into fishing and hunting and the outdoors through that avenue.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

I don't watch hunting shows. It's really difficult for me. I don't want to watch other people hunt. I want to go hunt. In some ways, I think the commercialization and the popularization of some of this stuff is great, but do you see any problems with some of those things as we keep moving forward?

JOHNNY MORRIS:

It's how do you reach young people? So my son gets me all the time, JP. I've read over catalog pages that he said, Dad, you got to. So I don't follow social media, but I've met two young men. I don't recall their names right here. What's their names? Benji. And what's the name of their podcast?

Well, Wonders of the Outdoors. But anyway. I've been missing it. You're doing great. Okay. Well, anyway, thanks for the help. But it's like young people reaching out to other young people and these younger. How do you make fishing cool? Catch fish. Yeah, catch it. Get the rods bent, boys. The virus, it was a bad thing. It was terrible, but yet if there was a benefit that came, some good that came, it was reconnecting families to spend time together around the dinner table and to get outside, whether hiking, fishing, boating. And I think it planted a lot of seeds where people and kids were exposed to the outdoors and little push button fish poles or whatever, that that's coming to pay back. And that's why I think that helped get some more of the next generation reengaged in the outdoors.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

If you would look at one challenge we face now or that you anticipate us seeing in the near future regarding conservation access, the outdoors, what is it that keeps you up at night and what is our biggest challenge and what is our bigger opportunity for success?

JOHNNY MORRIS:

I think it's communication. How do you reach people today? Is it TV shows? Is it through social media? And in our stores, I'm proud in the past few years, we've given away a half a million little push button rods and reels for kids to get them started and have events. Shields does that. But how can we all reach out? And a big challenge, people care about nature, but how do we. And I think that's where we can all work together is on communication so that voters can be well informed about policy when they're going to the poll to make these important decisions, not just through emotion, but with some facts, with some common sense facts like Roosevelt was all about.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

Well, we're seeing real challenges right now, right? Oregon's trying to get a ballot measure that bans all hunting whatsoever, bans it all, like 100% of it. I spent obviously six years in Washington DC, and some of it's Democratic versus Republican or animal rights groups versus conservationists, but some of it is just really urban versus rural. And the amount of people that are making policy decisions that are disconnected from how their bread is made, from how that cheeseburger becomes a cheeseburger, how. I mean, the part of what we know and love both in working with the land, whether it's in animal agriculture or six miles north of here is the crow fly spending five and a half hours on a mule deer stock just to get busted by his buddy sitting in a brush you never saw and how we do those things. How do we communicate?

I think we communicate. How do we talk to new audiences? I think that's the question both generationally, but also people who have just never experienced this. And we want to get them all out here and we think that'll help. But how do we get our message to people who don't necessarily don't like to have fun in a ground blind in 30 degrees when there's 40 mile an hour wind and freezing ice and you're just hoping six honkers decide to land in those decoys?

My wife doesn't even understand that as a measure of fun and she's been married to me for a long time.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

You should ask Jeannie, my wife, this question. I just go back to this. And I look at our company. We reach a lot of people that love the outdoors, that love to hunt and fish. And we have partners in conservation, Wild Turkey Federation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, others. They have the accurate what's happened and what are the successes that have been supported by hunters and anglers and the waterfowl habitat. It's amazing what a difference has been made. And I think we can get good information from them. The challenges, but something I think our company and others, we need to do a better job and we're striving to is how do we get accurate information, tell both sides of the story and tell the positive work and advancements, incredible advancements that have been made through the North American model of conservation. It's incredible. And so yes, there's challenges.

There's always been challenges, but to me, I wake up and you say, what worries you? I'm more excited about the opportunities that lay ahead and how this very facility right here is going to help champion that cause. Whether people come here in person and see what we got to see today and yesterday and the days before, or whether it's a broadcast from here. But this place, everybody should be proud of this because it's going to help tell this story.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

You were talking about this as a facility, not a library, but a presidential library really is in the business of telling stories. And we're pretty excited to tell Theodore Roosevelt's story here. When the story of 21st century American conservation, that story is told, what do you want it to say?

JOHNNY MORRIS:

It's a happy report card and it was built on common sense and passion. I brought this quote, many in this audience have heard this, but I refer to it and I share it all the time. There's a quote from our President Roosevelt. "There can be no greater issue than that of conservation in this country. We must conserve the soil so that our children shall have a land that is more and not less fertile than our fathers dwelt in. We must conserve the forest not by dish use, but by use." Like he's referring to a healthy responsible harvest of our God-given natural resources.

We must conserve the forest not by dish use, but by use and making them more valuable at the same time that we use them. And that's good practice. How do we get the word out on that? Moreover, we must ensure that as far as possible, the use of certain types of great natural resources for the benefit of the people as a whole. And that was a quote President Roosevelt made back in 1908 at the conference of the governors. And to me it's just how can we have a healthy harvest and man get along with nature and help manage nature? We can have a hand and these great people here are great at managing resources and it's how you educate people to have some healthy harvest.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

I have a little fun question because my wife is from Norway, so we've been following the World Cup. And one of my favorite things that you can find online right now is when Europeans walk into a Bass Pro shop.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

Honey, I'm glad you brought that up. It makes me happy too. I've been seeing that.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

I'm really curious about this because one of my favorite things when I was a broke college kid, I could go into a Bass Pro shop and I could get what I needed to go hunting, waterfall, upland, deer. But now that I'm no longer a broke college kid, I can go into a Bass Pro shop and buy the thing. I can buy Swaro or I can buy light or I can do all of that. So one of the things that I think also, this is a little different than what I'm asking, but you guys have obviously made a conscious effort to make it available to any level of income that wants to be a part of the outdoors. And at the same time, at a time where box stores and commercial types of commerce are shutting down, you guys are expanding, you guys are getting bigger and you're making it more of an experience and it's part of the customer service, the quality of the care, the stuff you care.

But can you talk about how you have had success in your actual brick and mortar stores when, I mean, essentially every other industry in the country is starting to really, really generate towards online and that brick and mortar model is going away a little bit.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

Well, thank you.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

And it's not just the aquarium that fascinates the Norwegians when they walk in.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

That's a good question. From years ago, first off, our only shop we had for the first 13 years was in the back of my dad's liquor store. And then a bigger store —

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

I'd have probably been there in college too.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

So we'd run lures on sale and then he'd sell some more beer. So he was happy. We were happy. We kept pushing the beer over. But several years later, so in that store 13 years, moved to another store. It was a vacant big building called Gibson Discount, kind of like an early day Walmart. And I took a field trip with my sister Susie to visit L.L. Bean in Maine and I saw how many people they were getting to this store. It was like several million people a year. And Springfield, Missouri's not real big, but neither is Freeport, Maine. And that was our catalog customers. And we felt like, heck, if they can get that many people to go to Freeport, Maine, we can get a lot of people to come to Springfield. But we didn't have to, at that time, give a business plan to a banker.

Say we're going to build an aquarium or we're going to have waterfalls or put in an indoor archery range or these things. We just wanted to make a daydream store for our customers and our mainlands or our catalog customers to come and have a good time and also to celebrate nature and things like that. So we tried to make it a fun place for our customers to come. And I'm glad these people coming from outside the country have a fun, happy time there.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

And consciously from the business model, because of this, I think one of my concerns about what we love to do is if we don't create access, we're going to start pricing the regular hunter out of hunting. We're going to start pricing the regular person out of it. And that's what I'm so impressed with both of you. And I spend a lot of time in Shields and Bismarck too, and it's the same exact thing. Any income level can walk into a Bass Pro shop and they can participate in this wonderful part of outdoor experience. And that has to be a conscious decision. LL Bean's great and I don't want to be overly critical, but they don't have a $200 used Ruger American 243 on the shelf to make sure that that family who might that young kid who might not be able to afford a Christensen Arms or a Seakins or something on the higher end of that spectrum still has the opportunity to participate in this stuff.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

I think my mom and dad being here, and I mentioned them earlier, my dad was my hero, but he had one of his philosophies that were many, but they stuck with us. And one of them, he'd always say, "Johnny, it's not worth any more on your shelf than it is your competitors." And so we do everything to try to match against our competitors and try to deliver value. My dad was a champion. We came out with this fishing boat called Bass Tracker years ago, and it was kind of like the Model T. My dad said Bass boats at the time, they were selling for probably 10 or $12,000. My dad said, "There's a lot of people that love features, a boat like this, but they just can't spend that kind of money. Why don't you develop an aluminum fish boat that would have all these features that could just be lighter weight and not take such a big horsepower and it could be cheaper." So we came up with this name Bass Tracker and we put everything, swivel seats, outboard motor.

We didn't have an outboard motor franchise. We just kind of bootlegged in these Johnson motors from different dealers. Anyway, we put it in a catalog. We had to commit to buy 300 of these boats. We'd never bought one. And anyway, we finally negotiated down a penalty after we had to buy a hundred of them firm. We put it in a catalog where they sold really good. It was because that delivering value and it was kind of like a Model T. If you wanted one, it was just one size, one color. But anyway, I think of my dad. I'm drifting back off, but I want to get to this, our blessings and a couple of things. When I walked through the museum this morning, library, the great institution, two quotes really hit me right at the beginning from Roosevelt and I took note of them. My father was the best man I ever met.

And another one, my mom was the sweetest and most gracious and I couldn't help but think about my dad. My mom, what a blessing. And we talked about this before we came in here, governor, but I'm grateful to my mom and dad so much. And so a year from now, I woke up this morning and now we're free here. And Roosevelt, conservation hero, but also ultimate defender of freedom and liberty that we have here. So yesterday morning, and I think it was 136 years ago, yesterday morning, President Roosevelt was charging up San Juan Hill, leading his troops. I mean, yesterday morning when the first breakout of the Spanish American war were there in conflict in Cuba. And I was also reminded, my dad's birthday was July 13th, and I found out later in life, my dad, he told me around a campfire one night that he was happy to be across a fire from me and he got kind of choked up and I said, "Dad, what do you mean?" And he told me a few things about his life.

He wasn't looking for sympathy, but he just wanted me to know, reached that point in time. And he said, "Your dad was in a real rough war when I was a young man about your age." And I later found out he was in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. So last summer, a week from now, to kind of pay tribute to my dad on his birthday, we went over to Normandy and I had never watched that movie Saving Private Ryan. And his friend, General Brown was with us, some friends from the army. And he had us watch this movie or watched part of it at least where the troops were coming up the beach there and how brutal it was. And the next morning we went on top there and then we went to the cemetery. There's 10,000 grave markers and we walked through and this young lady that was directing us around, she escorted us over President Roosevelt Junior, Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

His marker. And he'd received, as many of you know, the Presidential Medal of Honor, just like his father had been awarded to him posthumously years later. And the marker next to him was his brother Quentin who had been killed and then reburied next to his brother. And the tour director, she said, "Johnny, it would've been so easy. This family, they could have taken privilege, but they chose not to. They chose to be leaders right there on the front." So it's not all ironic, but it's very special, the timing, our nation's birthday, celebrate President Roosevelt, celebrate freedom, celebrate conservation at this time. It's pretty special.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

I don't have anything nearly as eloquent as that, but I do know this. Somebody along the lines said, "Don't ever meet your heroes." And whoever said that's just dead ass wrong because this is the fourth time now that I've got to interact with you. And there are a lot of people that have made money in business. There are a lot of people that have made money in the outdoor business. There are gun makers and retailers and camouflage people. By the way, I bet your dad killed big stuff without matching camel from. It's amazing how much stuff got killed in cowboy boots, blue jeans, and a red flannel shirt back in the day.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

I'll tell you another thing about my mom and dad.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

And now if we don't have matching camel, we think we're going to get made fun of by our buddies.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

Okay. I'm not going to trash you need camel, but my dad, his only hunting he did was quail and my mom, and they loved it. I've read that little story. So my mom and dad, they became huge fans of conservation in the Missouri Department of Conservation. And they told me and my sisters a story about growing up in Missouri. There were not any wild turkeys. There were very few white-tailed deer. And they got to see the reintroduction of these amazing critters through. And they became such huge fans of the Missouri Department of Conservation, and that's a happy thing. And I also have to salute the spirit of our customers and those that love the outdoors, their generosity to round up things we do and like supporting this facility some. We have this roundup program called the Outdoor Fund, and between that and the excise tax, sportsmen, women, hunters and angers are very, very generous.

We can all thank them.

GOVERNOR KELLY ARMSTRONG:

Thank you for everything you've done for conservation. Thank you for taking the time to share your absolute passion with it here. I will just finish with this. As I was saying before, there are very few people who have had as much impact on the things that I care more about probably than anything else. I moved to Virginia to get away from North Dakota. I moved to Norway for a little bit to get away from North Dakota. I was in DC for six years to get back to North Dakota, and the reason is the outdoors, and the reason is being able to spend time with my dad and my son pheasant hunting in the fall. I'm not as mad at pheasants as I used to be, but I sure like to be out there with my dad and my son. As I was saying, there's a lot of people who have done really good business in this space.

There is nobody I can think of who has had a better and bigger impact on the conservation heritage as it relates to sportsmen and anglers than you. So thank you very, very much for doing that.

JOHNNY MORRIS:

Okay. I know this. We borrow money, okay? And one of our bankers is here, Bank of America. Brian Money. Thank you for your generosity to conservation, sir. And Microsoft, everybody, everybody, happy day.

TED ROOSEVELT V:

Listeners, so glad to have you along for Live from the TRPL, our special six-part series from the library's grand opening. You can find more interviews and talks like these online at trlibrary.com/video, where you'll also see the library's opening ceremony, drone shows, news stories, historical footage, and so much more. Check it out, and thanks for listening.