50 Years Young By Babe Winkelman When you think about the iconic brands in the history of American hunting, fishing and the outdoors, certain names come to mind. Browning, Winchester, Federal, Daredevle and Coleman are a few of those legacy names that come to mind.  But a tribute to great American ingenuity in the sporting world wouldn't be complete without mentioning a name that brought the world of hunting, fishing and camping equipment [quite literally] to the doorsteps of sportsmen and women. That name is Cabela's, as in Dick and Jim Cabela. Cabela's came about almost by chance. The year was 1961. Dick Cabela came up with a plan to sell some fishing flies he purchased while at a furniture show in Chicago. Upon returning home to the town of Chappell in Nebraska, Dick ran a classified ad in the Casper, Wyoming newspaper reading: "12 hand-tied flies for $1." It generated one response. So Dick formulated a new plan. He re-wrote the ad to read "FREE Introductory offer! 5 hand-tied Flies...25 Cents Postage...Handling" and placed it in national outdoor magazines. It didn't take long for the orders to start rolling in from sportsmen and women around the country. In classic direct-mail style, each order was mailed out with a catalog of outdoor items Dick and his wife Mary added to their product line. In those early years, Dick and Mary ran the business from the kitchen table of their home in Chappell. By the fall of 1962, they realized their new venture needed more attention. Dick asked his younger brother Jim to join the company, which he did in 1963. Dick, Mary and Jim didn't take any salaries from the company in the beginning. Instead, they invested in more mailings, new equipment and bigger facilities. By 1964, continued success demanded a bigger and better location. The operation moved from their kitchen table to the basement of Dick and Jim's father's furniture store. By 1969, Cabela's was operating in a 50,000 square-foot vacant John Deere building in the neighboring town of Sidney, Nebraska where the headquarters remains today. Only now they have 250,000 square feet. The foundation of the company is their catalog business. I'm sure everyone reading this has at least one Cabela's catalog in their home right now! The company produces nearly 100 different catalogs per year, including specialty books focusing on archery, fly-fishing, boating, etc. as well as big Spring and Fall Master catalogs that go out to all 50 states and 125 countries. With the Internet, Cabela's has seen huge online growth. Besides online sales, the website features helpful updated content, community pages, company information and much more. If you've ever been to a Cabela's store, you know their showrooms provide an incredible shopping experience. They're as much wildlife museums as they are stores. I love to go in just to look at all the fish and big game mounts, fish tanks and displays. Even though Cabela's has grown so much since 1961, they still stick to their original philosophy that the customer is No. 1. To say thanks to all their customers, Cabela's is celebrating their 50th anniversary with a big sweepstakes. They're giving away trucks and all kinds of things, so I strongly recommend that you go to their website for your chance to win.   Good Luck!   Babe Winkelman