Sportsman's Friend dead at 92

I never cared much for "The Sportsman's Friend' as appointment television, but there was something comforting in knowing that it would be on Channel 7 every Saturday night at 6 p.m. (later moved to other time slots).
That folksy voice made you feel like you were spending a half hour with a friend, even if you didn't care much about the show's subject- fishing, and sacreligious though it may be, I never did. And who could ever forget the show's signoff with the organ playing the catchy theme.
Chad Stebbins at MSSU was kind enough to provide me with some background material on Mr. Ensley, who was born and raised in Healy, Kan., just north of Dodge City and began his half-century broadcasting career as a salesman for WMBH radio in Joplin.
He provided his first fishing reports on WMBH. The show caught on and he moved on to KIMO radio in Independence, where he started "The Sportsman's Friend." The show moved to television in 1953 with Ford Motor Company as a sponsor. At first, it was syndicated regionally, carried by KOAM, KTTS in Springfield, and stations in Wichita, Topeka, Kansas City, and St. Joseph. By 1973, it was shown in 70 markets across the U. S. and in Canada.
I was lucky enough to have met Mr. Ensley a couple of times, once in Joplin and once at East Newton High School. Though our meetings were brief, you always left a conversation with Harold Ensley feeling as if you had talked to an old friend.
Harold Ensley was 92 years old and reportedly had not been in good health for a while. It's hard to think of the world without someone who was such a fixture in it while I was growing up and through my adulthood, but it gets a lot easier when you realize that Mr. Ensley has probably just gone fishin', instead of just a-wishin'.