SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— For Immediate Release — The plaque wall at the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame will see three new additions in 2025, a formidable trio that represents a cross section of industry pillars, including boat building, media, tournament organization and tackle innovation.

The Hall of Fame will welcome Randy Hopper, Craig Lamb and William Shakespeare Jr., who were selected from a diverse 20-person ballot by the Hall of Fame’s 30-member Selection Panel and living Hall of Fame inductees. A total of 81 ballots were distributed and 65 were returned, eclipsing last year’s total for most ballots submitted in a single year. The roster of Hall of Famers now stands at 103.

Hopper is an innovator whose fingerprints are all over various breakthrough developments in the design, construction and evolution of modern bass boats.

Lamb has spent the vast majority of his 40-plus year career behind the scenes in various media roles and on the B.A.S.S. tournament operations staff with the sum total of his invaluable contributions leading to his election.

Shakespeare’s contributions to sport fishing border on immeasurable with his development of the first level-wind reel in the late 1800s, ground-breaking lure inventions and the introduction of the world’s first fiberglass fishing rod in the 1940s.

The Class of 2025 will be honored later this year during Celebrate Bass Fishing Week, which will highlight the Hall’s 25th anniversary and culminate with the induction banquet on Sept. 25 at Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium in Springfield, Mo.

“It’s special to see the exceptional interest so many of the current Hall of Fame inductees have shown in selecting the new members of their club,” said Bass Fishing HOF Board president John Mazurkiewicz. “I can’t thank our Board and our nominations committee led by Neil Paul for all the volunteer hours they put in in administrating the process.

“I’ll look forward to our events during Celebrate Bass Fishing Week honoring Randy, Craig and Mr. Shakespeare, and also where we’ll be giving special recognition to those members of the Hall’s first induction class at the induction dinner.”

Hopper, who along with Lamb received the most first-place votes in the balloting, has been a driving and innovative force in the bass boat industry for more than 50 years. The Flippin, Ark., native worked side-by-side with company founder Forrest L. Wood in building and refining the standard-setting Ranger bass boats. He helped design and incorporate the first aerated livewell for a bass boat in 1973, paving the way for catch-and-release tournaments to become more common. Under Hopper’s direction, Ranger was the first boat brand to incorporate flotation foam that didn’t deplete ozone, and he also helped refine boat-building processes that drastically reduced other harmful emissions. Further, he was invaluable in the launch of FLW Outdoors, which advanced tournament fishing through higher payouts, innovative television coverage, engagement of non-endemic sponsors, wrapped boats and NASCAR-inspired uniforms. Hopper, along with other former Ranger colleagues, launched Vexus Boats eight years ago, and he continues to design and engineer new, state-of-the-sport fiberglass and aluminum models.

Lamb has been omnipresent on the bass fishing scene since the mid-1980s when he served as Wood’s “caddy” on the B.A.S.S. tournament trail. That gig allowed him to help in the production of “The Bassmasters” TV show, which aired to a nationwide cable audience on The Nashville Network. In 1986, when Dewey Kendrick replaced Harold Sharp as the tournament director, he tapped Lamb as his assistant, allowing the Tennessee native to witness and participate in some of the watershed moments on the sport’s historical timeline. Among them, he helped produce the made-for-television MegaBucks events that featured predetermined fishing areas, known as a hole course. He also helped manage the Western Division, which expanded B.A.S.S.’s reach beyond the Southeast and fueled the sport’s wider growth. He later served as TNN’s manager of Outdoor Programming and was instrumental in helping drive the launch and growth of Bassmaster’s web site in the digital age. He currently serves as a Senior Editor at B.A.S.S. and continues to coordinate tournament coverage while writing extensively.

Much like the works of his (unrelated) namesake playwright and poet did for literature, William Shakespeare Jr. left an everlasting mark on the sport of fishing through his innovation and marketing. Born in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1869, Shakespeare’s achievements in product development put him in elite company. His first breakthrough innovation was incorporating a level-wind, traveling bracket into a casting reel that allowed fishing line to spread evenly across the spool as it was wound. It made casting baits less frustrating and more fun, and arguably did more for the fledgling sport of bass fishing than any other invention of its time. Additionally, Shakespeare’s manufacturing efforts spread into artificial lures, such as The Evolution, The Sure-Lure, The Shakespeare-Worden Bucktail Spinner and The Tournament Frog. By the late 1930s, Shakespeare had developed the Wondereel, which incorporated features that reduced backlash and improved drag performance. Shakespeare celebrated its 50th year in 1947 by securing the patent rights to the world’s first fiberglass fishing rod, the Howard Glastik Wonderod. The revolutionary rod made bamboo and steel rods virtually obsolete.

For more information about the Class of 2025 and other inductees, click here .