Bob Scammell
Bell Memorial - Inducted 2013
Bob Scammell was one of the most influential writers about hunting, fishing, outdoor sports, recreation, and conservation.
An award winning outdoor sports writer, photographer, and conservation activist since the 1960s, Bob’s weekly columns were a popular feature for 47 years in the Red Deer Advocate and many other Alberta newspapers. His columns and articles helped preserve public lands and access to it so that people might enjoy outdoor recreations. His third book, Good Old Guys, Alibis & Outright Lies, was a Canadian best-seller, and won the (OWC's) Outdoor Writers of Canada's 1997 Outstanding Book Award.
Bob practiced law for 37 years in Red Deer. He brought to his outdoors writing the same skills as a wordsmith and advocate that he used in the courtroom. He was a clever, funny, insightful, and influential writer. His works that described the hunting and angling opportunities in Alberta appeared in many provincial, national, and international publications.
Bob was an early proponent of catch-and-release fishing. He was a member of the first-ever Canadian team in the World Fly Fishing Championship in England in 1987. He also worked to repair and restore damaged fish and wildlife habitats in Alberta.
Bob was a leader, volunteer, and executive in many important conservation organizations, including the Alberta Fish and Game Association, the Canadian Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited, and the Outdoor Writers of Canada.
Bob Scammell received numerous awards and honours, including the 1977 Fulton Trophy, the highest award of the Alberta Fish and Game Association. In 1983 he was named Outdoorsman of the Year by Winchester Canada, the Canadian Wildlife Federation, and the Outdoor Writers of Canada, for, “through his untiring efforts in conservation work, interest in the outdoors, and sportsmanship in the field, having done most to promote the great Canadian outdoors. In 2003, he was inducted into the Order of the Bighorn the Alberta government’s highest honour to a conservationist. In 2005 he received the Roderick Haig-Brown award of the CWF, for “outstanding conservation achievement,” and, in 2011, he received the Wildlife Defender Award of the Alberta Wilderness Association.
By inducting Bob Scammell into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, we are also honouring the hundreds of thousands of Albertans who take to our fields, forests, streams, lakes, and mountains each year to enjoy the wonderful Alberta outdoors sporting tradition and we are also reconfirming the enduring bond Albertans have with our great outdoors.
After Induction
Bob Scammell retired in 2016 after 50 years of writing a weekly outdoor sportsman column since 1966 for the Red Deer Advocate continuously, and throughout the years for other newspapers and magazines. In June 2013, Bob received a certificate of Appreciation from Trout Unlimited Canada for his nearly five decades of contributions to trout fishing.
List of Awards
2016 OWC COMMUNICATIONS AWARDS WINNERS
(2016) NEWSPAPER/INTERNET COLUMN
3rd Bob Scammell, Title: Democracy Denied, Published by: The Red Deer Advocate
(2016) MAGAZINE FEATURE - OTHER
2nd Bob Scammell, Title: Gourmet Gardening, Published by: The Old Farmer's Almanac Garden Guide
2015 OWC COMMUNICATIONS AWARDS WINNERS
(2015) MAGAZINE COLUMN
1st Bob Scammell,Title: Everyman's Crick or Dry Gulch,Published by: Alberta Outdoorsmen
(2015) MAGAZINE FEATURE - OTHER
1st Bob Scammell, Title: The Good Garlic Revolution, Published by: All Season Garden Guide - 2014
2013 - Outdoors Writers of Canada (OWC) COMMUNICATIONS AWARDS
THE NATIONAL FISHING WEEK WRITING AWARDS
1st - Bob Scammell, Title: The Grandfather Clause, Published by: Alberta Outdoorsmen
2012 - Outdoors Writers of Canada (OWC) COMMUNICATIONS AWARDS
THE NATIONAL FISHING WEEK WRITING AWARDS
1st - Bob Scammell, Title: Fishing Community is a Family, Published by: The Red Deer Advocate
2012 MAGAZINE FEATURE FISHING
3rd - Bob Scammell (Award of Merit)
Title: Secrets of the Phenological Fishing
Published by: The Old Farmer's Almanac
Bob Scammell passed away November 29, 2016
