Claude 'Grits' Gresham, Jr.

Funeral services for Claude H. "Grits" Gresham, Jr., are scheduled for 10:00am Friday, February 22, at the Blanchard - St. Denis Funeral Home in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Visitation is scheduled for 5:00pm - 9:00pm Thursday evening. Mr. Gresham died February 18, 2008. Born on June 21, 1922, in Spartanburg County, SC, Grits was the fourth of five children of Claude H. Gresham and Belle Hill Gresham . He attended Blue Ridge School for Boys, the University of North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Yale and received his B.S. and M.S. from Louisiana State University. Grits Gresham married Mary Eleanor Gresham on February 8, 1944, in Nashville, TN. Gresham was known world-wide as a writer, photographer, book author and television personality. He served as field host and producer for "The American Sportsman" television series on the ABC network, host of "Shooting Sports America" on ESPN, shooting editor of Sports Afield magazine for 26 years, and was published in such wide-ranging magazines as Sports Illustrated and Gentleman's Quarterly. He authored eight books, but may be best known for his role in the series of commercials for Miller Lite beer. Gresham was the fisherman among the athletes who made "Tastes Great, Less Filling" marketing buzzwords for more than a decade. Grits traveled the world for his work, and he particularly enjoyed his many trips to various African countries as well as fishing and hunting in South America. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII. A tireless worker for conservation, he was one of the first public voices bringing attention to the loss of wetlands along the Louisiana coastline, an area where he did much of his graduate work while at LSU. Gresham's many awards include the Winchester Outdoorsman of the Year, Alumnus of the Year in the LSU School of Forestry and Wildlife Management; induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and LSU Hall of Distinction; awards for excellence in writing and contributions to conservation from the Outdoor Writers Association of America, and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Northwestern State University. . In 2006 he received the only Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which then established, with the Professional Outdoor Media Association, an ongoing "Grits Gresham Shooting Sports Communicator" award. Gresham is survived by sons Tom and his wife, Pat; son Kent and his fiance Renee Prudhomme in Natchitoches, Louisiana; his daughter Barbara Hammerman and her husband, Raymond Levine in Gig Harbor, WA; his sisters, Rosa Schemmel (Wichita, KS), and Edith Kelley and Ruth Bedingfield (Ware Shoals, SC); granddaughter Amanda Gresham of Portland, OR; grandson Ryan Gresham and his wife Lisa of Mandeville, LA; and granddaughter Meredith Gresham of Albuquerque, NM. Pallbearers will be Walter Atkinson, John Wingo, Rick Nowlin, Jeff Thomas, Bill Cross and Doug Ireland. Honorary pallbearers are Curtis Guillet, Louis Hyams, Tom Murchison, Sr., L.J. Melder, Otis Barnum, Eddie Mahan, G.F. Thomas, and John Blanchard. The service will be officiated by Rev. Louis Sklar. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to The Gresham Collection at the LA Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, 321 Bienville Street, Natchitoches, LA 71457, or in the name of Grits Gresham to the Alzheimer's Association.