D’Arcy Egan inducted into the Ohio Department of natural Resources Hall of Fame on Wednesday, July 26. (Photo courtesy of Rory Franks)

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources inducted D’Arcy Egan into its prestigious Half Fame during a special ceremony on Wednesday, July 26, at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus. The long-time Outdoors Editor for The Plain Dealer and presently the Editor of The Beacon newspaper in Ottawa County, Egan, 77, has chronicled Ohio’s outdoors sports, fishing and hunting, wildlife and environmental issues for almost five decades.

The Ohio Natural Resources Hall of Fame awards program has a proud history. Established in 1966, the Hall of Fame is Ohio’s top honor for individuals – past and present – who have made significant contributions to preserving and protecting the state’s water, soil, woodlands and wildlife.

Previous Hall of Fame honorees include the legendary Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman), Ohio-born explorer John Wesley Powell, botanist Lucy Braun, conservationist-author Louis Bromfield and farming conservation advocate Bob Evans. Former governors James Rhodes and Bob Taft, as well as Sen. George Voinovich, are also in the Hall of Fame.

Egan has been lauded for his activism in advocating quality fish and game management around Ohio. He has long spotlighted Ohio’s outstanding inland lake and river fishing, deer, turkey and waterfowl hunting and led the campaign to allow dove hunting in Ohio.

Egan has been especially active in the promotion and protection of Lake Erie’s world class walleye fishing, including its environmental issues, and the creation of an exceptional steelhead trout fishery in Northeast Ohio.

Egan and his wife, Laura, live in Marblehead and have four adult daughters, Tracey, Kelley, Bailey and Lauren, and five grandchildren.