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WILLIAM B. SHELTON, OR DOC AS MANY KNEW HIM
WAS A GIVER.
HIS PROFESSIONAL CALLING WAS IN MEDICINE, BUT HE
ALSO HAD A GREAT PASSION FOR BASS FISHING.
HIS CLOSEST FISHING PARTNER AND BELOVED WIFE KNEW HIM
BEST.
On occasion I'd have a bigger fish than he,
but in reality what I did
was I netted fish.
Perfectly.
And that was a big asset
to have a fish netter in the boat.
THE BEAUTY OF LAKES SAM RAYBURN AND TOLEDO BEND
HELPED DRAW DOC TO EAST TEXAS IN THE EARLY 1970'S.
THE SHELTON'S HOME IS A TESTAMENT TO DOC'S LOVE
OF FISHING.
Down here we have Bill's den.
And it is filled
with memorabilia
and antique lures
and creels from the east.
He loved to collect all sorts of wonderful things.
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Bill had a few trophies you know that he'd won
over the years with his fishing endeavors.
As you can see he had a really wonderful time fishing.
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DOC SHELTON COMPETED IN MANY TOURNAMENTS INCLUDING
THE TEXAS STATE BASS TOURNAMENT
FOR 41 CONSECUTIVE YEARS.
BUT DOC WAS MORE THAN JUST A FISHING FANATIC.
IN 1994, HE CREATED DOCTOR BILL SHELTON'S TOTALLY
AWESOME FISHING ADVENTURE
TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE NEEDS OF CANCER PATIENTS IN EAST TEXAS.
CARING FOR OTHERS WAS INHERENT TO DOC SHELTON.
He truly love people.
And he truly had compassion on their problems, their ills.
He wanted a better life for everybody.
WHILE DOC WORKED TIRELESSLY TO PROMOTE THE SPORT OF FISHING,
HE ALSO UNDERSTOOD THE NEED TO PROTECT, CONSERVE
AND ENHANCE THE ENVIRONMENT.
HE CONTINUALLY RAISED AWARENESS FOR THE
IMPORTANCE OF WATER QUALITY AT LAKE SAM RAYBURN.
THROUGH HIS AFFILIATION WITH NUMEROUS MEDICAL,
CIVIC, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS,
BILL SHELTON'S DESIRE TO GIVE BACK WAS RECOGNIZED BY MANY.
You know Doc was a great physician,
he was a great conservationist,
he was a great community leader,
he was a great church leader
and he was always ready, willing and able to serve.
And Bill Shelton demonstrated that all of his life.
He was one of those kind of of guys if you give him a
list of things to do
and he was the first one to come back and wanna know if there's
anything else he can do.
DOC'S PASSION TO HELP EDUCATE YOUTH
LED TO HIS INVOLVEMENT WITH THE BASS BRIGADE -
A LEADERSHIP PROGRAM THAT TEACHES HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
ABOUT AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT.
Doc was the kind of guy that was there to make sure that
we would always have fish for his children, his grandchildren
to catch. And to Doc, all kids was his.
He was just that kind of a person.
DOC'S CHARM AND PERSONALITY WON OVER THE PEOPLE HE MET.
BUT NO ONE COULD FORGET HIS HANDSHAKE.
Doc could not wait to come in, shake our hands and try to crush us
and make us go to our knees.
Yea I think he worked out all year long just for the state tournament.
So he could shake everybody's hands and really break their hands.
There's many of us out there that are great fishermen.
I think the legacy Doc Shelton leavesfor my generation and
the generations to follow
is that he used bass fishing as an avenue to do other great things.
That's really what Doc was able to accomplish and I think that's
what so many of us appreciated about him.
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He'll be missed forever, but he'll never be forgotten.
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