Bud Lilly (1925-2017) was the owner of the Trout Shop in West Yellowstone, Montana as well as an accomplished baseball player, fly fishing guide, and conservationist.
Early life and career in education
Walen Francis “Bud” Lilly II was born on August 13, 1925, in Manhattan, Montana. to Violet Collins, a hotelier, and Walen Lilly, a barber. Bud graduated from Manhattan High School in 1942. After some time serving in the military, he enrolled in Montana State University in Bozeman in 1946 and earned a Bachelor's degree in applied science. In 1951, Lilly earned his Master's degree in education from the University of Montana in Missoula. He then became a public school math and science teacher in Bozeman and Deer Lodge until his retirement in 1970. He briefly also worked as a teacher in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Involvement in baseball
Bud's father, Bud Sr., was a great fan of baseball and taught Bud to play. At age five, Bud received his first bat and glove, and he began playing in sandlot games. At age twelve, Bud began playing organized baseball, playing in both American Legion and town-team baseball. He rapidly gained more experience. At fourteen, he became the youngest player on the Gallatin Valley Men's Team, an independent baseball team whose players ranged in age from fourteen to fifty. Bud played second base.
While in the Gallatin Valley Men's Team, Lilly played in an exhibition game against “a Negro League traveling team," including Satchel Paige, a pitcher who was later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and became the oldest rookie in Major League baseball. Lilly managed to get a hit on a pitch from the famed player and make it to first base, but got out when he attempted to steal second.
In 1940, two men from the Cincinnati Reds scouted the team. Although this moment was not Bud's big break, he took the two men fishing and impressed them with his skills. In 1942, the men returned to watch Bud play again. They offered him a minor-league contract to play with the Cincinnati Reds farm team, the Salt Lake City Bees. Instead, with World War II ravaging the country, Bud joined the military.
Military career
In 1942, Lilly joined the U.S. Armed Forces and travelled to Butte, Montana to train in the V-12 program for U.S. Navy Officers. After two years in the program, Lilly received his commission and “reported to St. John’s Cathedral in New York”. He then journeyed to Bainbridge, MD to go through Navy boot camp.
Lilly trained in Miami from May–July 1945 on destroyers, sub-chasers, and PT boats. Following this training, he shipped out to Italy on the way to invade Japan with the U.S. Forces. During his service, Bud Lilly was assigned to the USS General R.M. Blatchford. He visited Hiroshima, Japan after its bombing by U.S. forces. In 1946, Lilly left the military and returned to Montana to continue his education.
Fly fishing and The Trout Shop
During his time as a public school teacher, Lilly began working another job in West Yellowstone and washed cars for extra cash.
In 1961, Lilly purchased a “trout fishing tackle store” in West Yellowstone that became a great success. The shop gathered information about local fishing conditions, provided a space for fishermen to congregate, and offered fly fishing services and items like tackle and flies.
Lilly also sent out promotional literature and catalogues for fly-fishing and taught fly-fishing lessons. He became a guide on the Madison, Gallatin, and Yellowstone rivers. Some of his clients included Tom Brokaw, Jimmy Carter, and British Ambassador Sir Peter Ramsbotham. He also advocated for catch-and-release fishing and created a club at his shop to encourage the practice in Montana that gave fishermen silver buttons for releasing trout of various lengths. In addition, he supported women's involvement in fly fishing by offering “women-only fishing trips” and assisting in creating “women’s fly-fishing clubs”.
“I was always engaged by the instant of the strike,” he wrote in his autobiography, published in 1988. “It doesn’t matter how many thousands of trout I’ve taken since. I still have the same excitement when I put a fly over a trout and a miracle happens.”
The shop also published several editions of a merchandising catalogue and a fishing map of the area in tandem with California businessman David Bascomb. When Lilly's first wife, Patricia, grew ill in 1981, Lilly decided to sell the shop in 1982, although the shop still bore his name during the tenure of the next few owners.