Talk:Johnny Morris (businessman)

Untitled
NOTE: I am proposing significant edits to this page to provide a more complete article with a wide variety of reliable sources. This has been completed for McGinn and Company on behalf of Johnny Morris. I am a paid editor and am aware of the conflict of interest paid editing guidelines. Please message me with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your consideration. BLong2438 (talk) 21:57, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
 * You need to propose any changes here first, not unilaterally add them to the article without consultation. I have reverted your changes accordingly. Please re-read the guidelines! Edwardx (talk) 10:43, 2 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Apologies, I'm a new editor, and missed those directives in my research and tutorials. Here is a sub-page I've created for review. I've also improved on my website references to make them more complete. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:BLong2438/Johnny_Morris If this is not the correct method/location, please let me know. BLong2438 (talk) 13:02, 2 April 2019 (UTC)
 * You need to propose specific changes (with full citations) to the existing article, not a complete replacement. It is not reasonable to expect unpaid volunteer editors such as myself to compare two versions! Edwardx (talk) 17:47, 2 April 2019 (UTC)
 * I can appreciate your position and respect the limited time you have to spend on articles such as this. While my wording may not be exact to what was originally there, and I may have used slightly different sources, I have not, in fact, removed any of the details that were used, just expanded upon them. The original article only had one or two sentences under each section, and those same details exist in the respective intro paragraphs under each section. The new version I have proposed is simply much more complete.  With this page currently being marked as a "stub", my goal was to expand upon this enough to be able to remove the stub status.  Again, I want to make this as easy for the review process as possible, please let me know what I can do to provide assistance. If you are asking me to copy and paste the original sentence here with my proposed changes below it, I'm happy to do so, but didn't think that was the best use of this talk page for such an expanded set of content edits. BLong2438 (talk) 20:49, 2 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Just wanted to reach out again to see if there was anything I could do to assist this review process. BLong2438 (talk) 19:46, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

I am recommending the following changes to the existing copy to provide additional details to make this article more complete. John Luke Morris (born 1948) is an American billionaire businessman, and the founder, majority owner, and CEO of Bass Pro Shops, a hunting and fishing retail chain in the US and Canada. Johnny (John L.) Morris (1948) is an American businessman, conservationist and philanthropist. He is best known as the founder, CEO and majority owner of Bass Pro Shops. He is also the founder of White River Marine Group, which manufactures Tracker Boats. Morris developed Big Cedar Lodge, a 4,600-acre nature and golf resort which includes the first public golf course designed Tiger Woods. In 2017, Morris opened Wonders of Wildlife, a natural history museum in Springfield, Mo. He has received the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Award and Audubon Medal in his role as a conservationist and the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies have named their highest individual conservation award after him.
 * ORIGINAL INTRO
 * PROPOSED INTRO
 * ❌, the proposed text is blatantly promotional and at least in part not supported by the cited sources, which largely are not secondary sources. Huon (talk) 16:11, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

John Morris was born in Springfield, Missouri in 1948. Morris was educated at Drury University. John L. Morris was born and raised in Willard, Mo., the son of John A. and Genny Morris. John A. Morris fought in the Battle of the Bulge and, after he returned home, opened a successful chain of liquor stores called “Brown Derby.” Morris’ parents along with his uncles Charlie Wiley sparked what would become his lifelong love of fishing by taking him out on local lakes and streams on the Ozarks, particularly an especially prolific fishing spot called “the pot hole,” on the White River. Morris would say those trips inspired not only a love of the sport, but a love of fishing bonding experience. “Those were great times, when I really got to know my Dad,” Morris said.
 * ORIGINAL EARLY LIFE
 * PROPOSED EARLY LIFE
 * ❌ - not encyclopedic in tone, largely off-topic. This is an encyclopedia article, not "The story of Morris' life and family as told by himself". Huon (talk) 16:11, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

I'm recommending we replace this entire section with the new Business Career outlined under new section already submitted. He is married, with four children, and lives in Springfield, Missouri.[1] Johnny Morris married Jeannie in 1986, and they raised four children. His son John Paul and daughter Megan work for Bass Pro Shops. BLong2438 (talk) 16:00, 17 April 2019 (UTC)
 * ORIGINAL CAREER
 * ORIGINAL PERSONAL LIFE
 * PROPOSED PERSONAL LIFE
 * ❌, either it's not about John Morris, or it's not supported by the cited source. Huon (talk) 16:11, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

Early career
While attending Drury University, Morris worked at his father’s store and served as a guide on area lakes. When Morris was 21, he entered a bass professional fishing tournament at local Table Rock Lake. The tournament was run by Ray Scott, who founded the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) professional circuit, and Morris’ success encouraged him to try his hand at professional fishing. He finished fourth on the circuit in 1972, his first full year, and he qualified for five consecutive Bassmaster Classics.

While fishing on the professional tour, Morris grew fascinated by the inspired and innovative lures, gear and gadgets that anglers created and used. He was frustrated that he could not find similar equipment in his local store. Soon after Morris and a friend traveled to Tulsa, loaded a rented U-Haul trailer with fishing tackle, and began to sell lures at tournaments.

The first Bass Pro Shop
In 1972, Morris opened his first Bass Pro Shop, filling shelves of lures and baits in an eight-square-foot space in the back of his father’s biggest Brown Derby store on North Glenstone. “We decided to name the shop Bass Pro Shops because it was very descriptive of the type of store we wanted,” Morris said.

By the next year, the response was so enthusiastic that Morris ran a full-page advertisement in the Springfield Leader and Press where he sold lures as varied as Stump Jumpers, Craw-Paps, Hawg Hunters and Beetle Spins.

Bass Pro catalogs
The demand was so overwhelming that by 1974, Morris put together a 180-page mail order catalog that advertised 1,500 items, and he sold it for $2. For the first one, Morris took his own photographs at bass tournaments, wrote his own stories, and he used family members as models and typesetters. Morris realized he was onto something when they got their first order from the company that printed the catalog.

By 1977, the Bass Pro Shops catalog had grown so popular, that anglers around the country were calling local newspaper outdoors writers to find out how to get their own. By 1989, Bass Pro distributed more than 20 million catalogs worldwide.

American Rod & Gun
The overwhelming demand sparked by the first Bass Pro Shops catalog encouraged Morris to open up American Rod and Gun Wholesalers, which supplied fishing and hunting supplies to more than 7,000 retailers nationwide.

Tracker Boats
In 1978, Morris and his friend, Hall of Fame fisherman Charlie Campbell, designed and introduced the aluminum Bass Tracker rig, a ready-to-fish bass boat that was roughly half the price of fiberglass boats. The first edition cost $2,995 and included an outboard motor, a depth sounder, an aerated live well and a drive-on trailer. Tracker quickly became the No. 1 selling fishing boat brand in America despite many attempts to copy the model. In 2015, Tracker Marine Group was renamed White River Marine Group after the river where Morris had grown up fishing. As of 2018, more than 750,000 Tracker boats had sold.

Outdoor World
In 1984, Morris moved out of his father’s store and opened a 250,000 square foot catalog showroom in Springfield, Mo. He called it “Outdoor World.” Morris said his goal was for the showroom to create the same anticipation and excitement as the catalogs. “We were rolling out the carpet for our mail-order customers,” Morris told a reporter. “Why don’t we do the same thing for fishermen?”

Outdoor World attempted to be more than a retail store. Morris installed an aquarium, a restaurant and the Tall Tales Barbershop as a place for anglers to exaggerate their fishing stories. He often held special events there; in 1988 he held the first “World’s Fishing Fair,” which was so popular that fire marshals had thousands of people wait outside until enough people had left.

By 1989, three million a year came to Outdoor World, making it the No. 1 tourist attraction in the state of Missouri and it was being called fishing’s Disney World.

In 1997, Bass Pro Outdoor Worlds opened in Chicago and Islamorada in the Florida Keys. In 1998, an Outdoor World opened Fort Lauderdale., followed in 1999 by store openings in Charlotte, Detroit and Grapevine Texas. After Bass Pro’s merger with Cabela’s, there are 171 Bass Pro Shops retails stores in the United States and Canada.

Cabela’s
In Sept. 2017, Morris and Bass Pro Shops completed a $4 billion acquisition of Cabela’s.

Big Cedar Lodge
In June of 1988, despite having no experience in hospitality, Morris opened Big Cedar Lodge, a 4,500-acre nature and golf resort. “It’s just been good people using common sense to direct their actions, with an attitude of trying to bend over to take care of customers,” Morris said as it opened. As of 2018, Big Cedar offered four restaurants, five swimming pools, campfire wagon tours and bass fishing expeditions. The resort hosts more than one million people per year.

Big Cedar is the only resort in the world to have public courses designed by championship golfers Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Tiger Woods. Eight-time major champion Tom Watson designed a par-3 course on the resort as well.

Net worth
According to Forbes, as of October 3rd, 2018, Morris has a net worth of $5.7 billion, placing him 109th on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans.

Conservation
Morris’ passion for wildlife conservation has earned him numerous awards and inspired comparisons to former president Theodore Roosevelt.

Wonders of Wildlife National Museum
Morris opened the 350,000-square-foot Wonders of Wildlife National Museum (WOW) in September, 2017; one reviewer called it a combination of the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. It was named best new attraction of 2017 by USA Today.

WOW contains 1.5 miles of indoor pathways, multiple four-dimensional dioramas of extreme wildlife habitats three freshwater and saltwater aquariums with more than 35,000 underwater animals. WOW works in conjunction with 40 different conservation organizations.

In its first year, WOW drew 1.6 million visitors.

Dogwood Canyon Nature Park
In 1990, Morris purchased Dogwood Canyon, a 10,000-acre property on the Missouri-Arkansas border, and he turned into a nonprofit wildlife reserve. Morris worked with professional fisherman Dave Whitlock to create one of the few fly-fishing destinations in the Midwest. In addition, the resort offers numerous tours and a conservation center with interactive classrooms.

Gone Fishing Campaign
Morris has been outspoken in an effort to get kids away from their devices and to spend more time in the outdoors. Between 2013 and 2018, as part of the Gone Fishing campaign, Morris has donated more than 300,000 fishing rods and reels to associations like the Boy Scouts and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. “I see statistics all the time in our industry where young people commonly spend as much as 50 hours a week on electronic devices, and they’re just getting further and further removed,” he says.

WOLF School
Morris created the Wonders of the Ozarks Learning Facility (WOLF) in partnership with the Springfield Public School system in order to educate fifth grade students about nature and conservation. In the one-year program, students spend significant time outside fishing and hunting and exploring nature.

BLong2438 (talk) 16:14, 17 April 2019 (UTC)

Removed first submission of new section for conservation. I was having problems getting my submissions to display correctly on the talk page, so all new sections were submitted under a single new section post. Apologies for any confusion. Please let me know what I can do to help move this review process forward. BLong2438 (talk) 16:20, 17 April 2019 (UTC)

Edwardx (talk) is this the proper way to recommend these edits? Can we have some dialog about this? I didn't think we would have these type of issues with me just trying to expand what is nothing more than a placeholder article. Please let me know what I can do to move this process forward. BLong2438 (talk) 13:26, 22 April 2019 (UTC)


 * ❌; these sections cite numerous third-party sources that might be helpful for expanding the article. However, they are cited in such a way that they cannot easily be found. Giving the newspaper and the publication date is unhelpful; at the very least the article title and a page number should be given, too. As an obvious example, I would expect a 2017 Chicago Tribune article to be available online, but without the title I have next to no chance finding it. Furthermore, the tone of the proposed sections is (again) unduly promotional and relies far too much on what Morris says about himself. I also have doubts that the entire content is supported by the cited sources, and some sections aren't based on reliable independent sources at all. So there will be quite some work necessary to turn the above into valid encyclopedic content. Huon (talk) 16:11, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

Huon (talk) Before I propose additional changes, I wanted to make sure you were ok with the tone of the revised intro section. John (Johnny) L Morris (born 1948) is an American billionaire businessman, and the founder, majority owner, and CEO of Bass Pro Shops, a hunting and fishing retail chain in the United States and Canada. He is also founder of the White River Marine Group, which is the largest boat manufacturer in the US.

Morris is also noted conservationist who opened the Wonders of Wildlife Museum & Aquarium in Springfield, Mo., in 2017. . BLong2438 (talk) 14:33, 24 April 2019 (UTC)
 * That's certainly better. It seems relevant, though, that some of the sources you provided above indicate that founding the museum was not just a feat of conservationism but also a ploy to get more potential customers to Bass Pro's Springfield store, at whose location the museum happens to be. Huon (talk) 23:14, 24 April 2019 (UTC)
 * At this point, I'm only using sources that are already listed, but I'll be sure to keep a close eye on the others used moving forward. Are you ok with me making the updates outlined here to the actual page then? Once that is in place, I'll provide the next update and we can do this one step at a time to make sure everything is acceptable. Again, my goal is not to "promote" him, just to provide a more complete article. Thanks. BLong2438 (talk) 16:53, 25 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Sorry for the slow response. For now I have added that content (and an explanation of the dual purpose of the museum) to the body of the article. If the body gets expanded significantly, it may be time to expand the lead as well. Huon (talk) 17:43, 28 April 2019 (UTC)

Huon (talk) Thank you for responding and implementing some of these updates. I did notice though, that you put these under career instead of the main intro paragrph, was that intentional? I have changes for the Career section too, but was working my way down page. Here are the suggested updates for Early Life.

Early life
John Morris was born in Springfield, Missouri in 1948. Morris was educated at Drury University. While in college, he began to fish professionally on the Bassmasters circuit and became frustrated by the lack of a choices of local bait shops. BLong2438 (talk) 19:06, 1 May 2019 (UTC) BLong2438 (talk) 14:23, 2 May 2019 (UTC)

Reply 2-MAY-2019
Regards, Spintendo  16:22, 2 May 2019 (UTC)
 * 1) The subject's frustration at the lack of choices from local bait shops with which to indulge his intentions to "avoid work and fish" are anecdotal in nature, and not the purpose of the article.
 * 2) The provided source states that the subject is a "five-time Bassmaster Classic tournament pro" but does not state that any of these were obtained while the subject was in college. Furthermore, the source does not state that the subject was at that time fishing "professionally" on the Bassmasters circuit.

New Proposed Section to list honors and tributes
Edwardx, per your requirement, here is a proposed new section for "Honors and Tributes". Apologies, I felt this was about as basic of an addition that I could make and did not see how this could be considered controversial, promotional, or rejected for sourcing. BLong2438 (talk) 18:36, 14 May 2019 (UTC)
 * BLong2438, it is not "my" requirement, simply one of the most basic aspects of COI editing on Wikipedia, which you really should be well aware of by now. Can I suggest that you re-read Conflict of interest in its entirety. Edwardx (talk) 18:58, 14 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Edwardx, apologies if that came out wrong, that was not meant to be personal. Will you be the one reviewing this, or do I need to submit this for review using the "request edit" template or submit to the COI Noticeboard? Any help you can provide to ensure I'm following the proper guidelines and steps would be greatly appreciated.  My only interest here is in helping provide a more accurate, complete, and non-promotional story of Johnny Morris.  Thanks, BLong2438 (talk) 15:55, 20 May 2019 (UTC)

Honors and tributes
Johnny Morris and his family were presented with the Audubon Medal on February 7, 2019, in recognition of their dedication to conservation and environmental education.

New Proposed Section to list honors and tributes
Information to be added or removed: New section to list honors and tributes Johnny Morris has received. Explanation of issue: Trying to build a more complete and accurate profile. While there are others I would like to add to this section, I want to make sure the wording and sourcing meet all guidelines. References supporting change: https://www.audubon.org/news/the-national-audubon-society-honor-johnny-morris-and-family-and-j-drew-lanham BLong2438 (talk) 14:17, 23 May 2019 (UTC) Johnny Morris and his family were presented with the Audubon Medal on February 7, 2019, in recognition of their dedication to conservation and environmental education. — Preceding unsigned comment added by BLong2438 (talk • contribs) 14:17, 23 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Honors and tributes

Reply 25-MAY-2019
Spintendo 19:14, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

Add purchase of Cabela's to career
Information to be added: In September 2017, Bass Pro acquired Cabela’s for $4 billion, doubling its revenue and reach. Explanation of issue: Add the sentence above to the END of the career section above Audubon Medal. Trying to fill in basic gaps as I work to expand this article. References supporting change: http://fortune.com/2017/09/26/bass-pro-and-cabela-merger/ BLong2438 (talk) 14:38, 4 June 2019 (UTC)

Reply 04-JUN-2019
Regards, Spintendo  02:48, 5 June 2019 (UTC)
 * ✅ The claim regarding Cabela's purchase was added to the article.
 * ❌ The claims regarding Bass Pro's purported revenue and "reach" post-purchase were omitted.

Addition of catalog to career
Information to be added: In 1974, Morris and his family created a 180-page mail order catalog that they distributed nationwide. By 1988, 20 million catalogs were distributed annually.

Explanation of issue: Expanding the career section. Would like to add this right after the opening sentence about starting Bass Pro in his father’s liquor store

References supporting change: "A bass master’s love also makes a good living", South Florida Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), 11/16/98, Page 6D, https://www.newspapers.com/image/238939022/?terms=%22Bass%2BMaster%27s%2BLove%22 BLong2438 (talk) 19:03, 6 June 2019 (UTC)

The claims were not verified by the provided reference. Please provide additional sources for this information which verifies the proposed claims. Regards, Spintendo  07:04, 7 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Spintendo, was the reason this was declined because there was not a URL reference? I can provide one for newspapers.com, but a subscription (or at least a 7-day trial) is required to view. If I'm using a service like this, or a physical hard-copy of a news paper, magazine, book, etc., how should I proceed? Thanks, BLong2438 (talk) 14:32, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Spintendo, I never heard back from you on this but I have added a URL reference for newspapers.com, so hopefully that will provide the needed reference. BLong2438 (talk) 20:17, 8 July 2019 (UTC)
 * I'm not watchlisted for this page so new messages will go unnoticed unless using the request template. Spintendo  20:25, 25 July 2019 (UTC)

Update of Net Worth
I propose updating the net worth to "$6.7 billion, as of July 2019" using the existing Forbes reference. BLong2438 (talk) 20:09, 8 July 2019 (UTC)


 * Done. Spintendo  20:34, 25 July 2019 (UTC)

Addition of catalog to career
Information to be added: In 1974, Morris and his family created a 180-page mail order catalog that they distributed nationwide. By 1988, 20 million catalogs were distributed annually.

Explanation of issue: Expanding the career section. Would like to add this right after the opening sentence about starting Bass Pro in his father’s liquor store

References supporting change: "A bass master’s love also makes a good living", South Florida Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), 11/16/98, Page 6D, https://www.newspapers.com/image/238939022/?terms=%22Bass%2BMaster%27s%2BLove%22

In addition, I had also submitted a request to update the net worth on 7/8/19 if you could review that as well please. BLong2438 (talk) 18:18, 24 July 2019 (UTC)

As I stated earlier, a portion of these claims were not verified by the provided reference. Specifically, the proposed text uses a figure which is not confirmed by the provided source. Regards, Spintendo  10:17, 26 July 2019 (UTC)