On January 14, 1922, 54 visionary sportsmen met in Chicago to discuss an issue of common concern: the deteriorating conditions of America’s top fishing streams. Uncontrolled industrial discharges, raw sewage, and soil erosion threatened to destroy many of the nation’s most productive waterways. At the same time, the country’s forests, wetlands, and wilderness areas were quickly disappearing.
The group decided to form an organization to combat water pollution, and they named it after Izaak Walton, a 17th-century English conservationist who wrote the literary classic The Compleat Angler. Initially formed as a "federation of angling clubs," the Izaak Walton League of America soon broadened its goals in defense of outdoor America.
Today, the Izaak Walton League’s more than 40,000 members and 200+ local chapters continue to build on the accomplishments of those who preceded them as defenders of the nation’s soil, air, woods, waters, and wildlife.
The founders of the Izaak Walton League were:
- Thomas Ambrose
- Charles Antoine
- Jackson Boughner
- Dr. Preston Bradley
- W.T. Brown
- Clarence Cole
- John K. Cook
- Redmond P. Corse
- R.E. Crosby
- Herbert J Daniels
- H.A. DeVry
- Will H. Dilg (who served as the organization's first Executive Director)
- W.A. Eberman
- G. Felsenthal
- Donald M. Frame
- Alex Friend
- A.S. Gormley
- Guy Guernsey
- Rodney D. Heetfield
- Albert H. Hopkins
- Leonard P. Hopkins
- W.J. Jamison
- Walter S. Johnston
- Griffith G. Jones
- R.L. Jones
- Thomas M. Jones
- J. Roland Kay
- Edward M. Kazmar
- Walter P. Kemp
- Fredrick J. Lane
- Frank S. Leach
- Everett E. Lowry
- Charles C. Lucke
- William C. Luebbert
- Donald S. Martinez
- A.P. Morey
- Hawley A. Newkirk
- C.B. Nichols
- T.D. Nolan
- John Milton Oliver
- Fred N. Peet
- W. Peterson
- Chas. Pfanschmidt
- F. Harvey Proudfoot
- Frank K. Reilly
- Charles G. Richards
- Charles H. Rose
- Peter J. Schwab
- Charles E. Shaw
- Dan B. Starkey
- Frank Sturges
- Edwin F. Sutter
- Hale A. VanderCook
- Benjamin H. Winchell