OKLAHOMA CITY -- Memo to the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward: Don Wallace deserves an induction.

Remember "The Wallace Wildlife Show? Counting the reruns, it aired for 40 years on Oklahoma City television.

During the airing of his show, Don Wallace visited the small McClain County town of Wayne. Not many celebrities came to Wayne, and all of the kids wanted to touch his boat.

That's how popular "The Wallace Wildlife Show" was in its day. It was the first outdoors television show in Oklahoma City and one of the first of its kind in the country, airing from 1965 to 1989.

"The guy was a pioneer. No question about it," said Rich Fuller, production supervisor for the "Outdoor Oklahoma" television show and Wallace's intern in the early '80s.

"It was through his shows that people started learning about Texoma stripers, Lake Guerrero in Mexico, the wonderful fishing in Canada. This guy had an impact on fishing, especially in the Oklahoma and Texas area, that was huge."

And it may not have happened if not for "Marcus Welby, MD."

Wallace was working as a disc jockey for WKY radio in Oklahoma City but wanted to do an outdoors show for the affiliate television station.

It took four years to persuade management, but Wallace eventually was given the nod to produce a 15-minute outdoors show that the station could use whenever it needed to fill time.

Wallace bought a used camera for $25 from the news department and began shooting footage on weekends between spinning records at teen hops on Friday and Saturday nights.

"I would film, edit, produce, sell, host, syndicate, bill, collect. I did everything," Wallace said.

For six years, Wallace produced his 15-minute filler. Then in 1971, "Marcus Welby, MD.," provided Wallace his big break.

"Nobody was programming against the second half of Marcus Welby, the most popular show in the country, so local stations had to come up with their own programming," Wallace said.

"I lobbied for that 30 minutes. I said, 'I could beat the second half of Marcus Welby.' I didn't, but I came in second in the market."

For the next 18 years, "The Wallace Wildlife Show" had a regular 30-minute time slot each week.

Wallace, 78, now spends most of his days at his Buncombe Creek home near Kingston, fishing on Lake Texoma.

He still escorts a group of Oklahomans once or twice each summer to Canada for a fishing trip and winters in south Texas, fishing for speckled trout and redfish.

Footage and memorabilia from "The Wallace Wildlife Show" are now on display at The Oklahoma History Center's special exhibit "Field, Forest and Stream: A History of Oklahomans and the Outdoors."

The exhibit will be open the rest of the year.

And as Wallace used to say each week in his signature signoff: "Good luck, good hunting and good fishing."