During this time he was heavily exposed to Agent Orange, received flesh wounds from shrapnel and received several awards including the Combat Action Ribbon. He served 2 tours in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and during this time was selected to compete in the Atlantic Fleet Rifle Matches in Annapolis Maryland and finished 13th among all Navy and Marine participants.

Honorably discharged after 4 years active duty Billy worked on a large cattle ranch near Tilden, TX. For several months and then was hired as a U.S. Customs Air Security Officer and Special Deputy U. S. Marshal. During the next 2 years Billy flew undercover on domestic and international airline flights to prevent sky jacking and was assigned to New York City, Minneapolis, Honolulu and Tucson.

His most memorable assignment was standing personal body guard for Henry Kissinger and Jackie Onassis in New York one day. While assigned to Tucson Sandifer worked in drug interdiction with U.S. Customs Agents working in 2 man teams setting up ambushes and patrolling for smugglers on Pipe Organ Nat'l Park and other isolated stretches of the Arizona/Mexico border. After 2 years the funding was cut for the program and since Billy had no college education he was told he would be placed in a position as a Customers Inspector. Still the born adventurer and severely addicted to adrenalin, Billy resigned and after a short stint farming and fishing every second he could Billy re-enlisted in the U. S. Navy and spent the next 2 years 3 months in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he was assigned to the Harbor Police Division running a police boat.

Eventually he was put in charge of the Division and at the request of the CO he completely revised the rule book governing the activities of the Harbor Police Division there. When off duty Billy lived on a 36 foot boat he had refitted and commercial fished with rod and reel.

In July of 1976 Billy was discharged and has called Flour Bluff home since. Totally fed up with society he lived "down island" alone for 1 years Friends brought him supplies. Following this he worked as a deckhand on Gulf shrimp boats for 2 years, worked numerous years as a deck hand on bay and ULM shrimp boats, beach seined, commercial fished with a rod and reel and caught bait for bait stands. Some times living in Flour Bluff and at other times living in tents on Padre Island. Billy has always been happiest living the life of a modern day nomadic hunter/gather.

In 1991 he became the federally licensed guide on PINS and has been offering fishing, birding and naturalist's charters there for the past 18 years. 12 years ago he acquired a 50 ton coastal and near shore Master's License and added bay fishing charters to his list of services offered and last year he started doing nearshore Gulf charters as well. In 1995, he went to the superintendent of PINS and requested permission to organize and attempt the first Big Shell Beach Cleanup.

In the insuring 15 years, 14 such events have been held and 3,415 volunteers have removed 1,830 pounds of trash from the Big Shell beach area. He is the recepient of various conservation awards and is considered the "go to" man concerning Padre Island. His daily log books are considered invaluable as the only existing "trend data" on all aspects of PINS including bird numbers and he regularly sends reports of bird abundance to NPS and other agencies involved with bird studies. He has constantly studied all aspects of the natural environment of Padre and other barrier islands for decades; in the field and in literature.

He is an Audubon Coastal Warden in the ULM working with the Colonial Nesting Waterbirds and a long time writer, having written over 300 published articles. He is a feature writer for Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine and along with his feature articles he writes a "Bird of the Month" column to increase the knowledge and awareness of various bird species to outdoorsmen. Friends of Padre, Inc. was formed to insure the Big Shell Beach Cleanup will continue in the future and in hopes of being able to help other worthwhile efforts of Padre Island. Billy has been married to his wife, Joy Eyvone, for 28 years, has no children and lives a life totally dedicated to being a good steward of Planet Earth and in particular Padre Island.

He has long collected and written about old fishing tackle and served as curator of two permanent displays of old fishing tackle and lures exhibited in Corpus Christi and Rockport.

Everything in his youth revolved around hunting and fishing because that was what all the men in his family did. He and his brother (Don) were raised by their mother and her parents and by his aunt and uncle (Helen and “Doc” Johnson) and thus were blessed by having 3 families. His grandfather (S.F. Hunt) was Sheriff of San Patricio County for over 30 years (44 years total in law enforcement). McKee helped him tend to as many as 22 bloodhounds (including some very large litters of puppies) and looked forward to the monthly practice runs where a trustee from the county jail was released on one of the large county ranches to simulate an escape and the dogs were put on the trail to track them down. The dogs always got their man and not a single prisoner ever went free! His grandmother was County Librarian in the basement of the courthouse and he and his brother got to know every square inch of the old building including the jail.

McKee grew up with a fishing rod in one hand and a gun in the other and knew from an early age that he would end up in a career involving the outdoors, most likely dealing with the water. In the 1960s he began fishing in Port Aransas for tarpon and sharks from the south jetty (and from the north jetty when they could hitch a ride over there) and from Horace Caldwell Pier with his cousin Sam “Bub” Hunt III. They lived on the pier and jetties for weeks on end and survived quite well on little more than Spam, Vienna sausage and white bread. His uncle (Sam Hunt II) was a fishing legend, being one of the pioneers that fished for (and regularly caught) large sharks from gulf piers. When he couldn’t get to the coast, he spent lots of time on the Aransas River with his grandfather and uncle Bobby Hunt setting and running trot lines and jug lines for catfish and fishing for big alligator gar. He was introduced to surf fishing in the 1950s by another uncle (“Doc” Johnson) who had a Willys jeep and a fishing shack near Yarborough Pass on Padre Island. These family members taught him not only “how” to fish, but more importantly “why” to fish!

For three summers after high school, McKee worked on shrimp boats in the Gulf of Mexico between Louisiana and Mexico, starting as a “header” and eventually working up to “rigger” (one BIG notch below Captain). When anchored up he would hang out on the stern with a bow and home-made fish arrows shooting ling that were attracted to the discarded by-catch of fish and crabs. He also used hand lines made of parachute cord and hooks baited with squid. After one 30-day trip he pocketed good money ($0.50/lb) for 22 ling sold at the dock in Aransas Pass. He also collected and preserved various species of fish that were brought up in the shrimp nets. Many were uncommon and poorly studied and were ultimately given to the Biology Dept. at Southwest Texas State Teachers College (San Marcos) where he started as a Freshman.

After graduating from college he taught science in middle and high school for 5 years at Flour Bluff ISD which was only a half mile from the Upper Laguna Madre. Quite a few of his students were children of commercial netters and trotliners and it was not uncommon for them to wear white shrimper boots to school. A few wore no footwear as covering the feet was considered by some families to be unnecessary and basically un-affordable. Several students had their own wooden Vannoy net skiffs and were on the water before daylight catching fish to help their families make a living.

In 1977 he was hired by the Coastal Fisheries Division of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as a fisheries biologist working first at the Rockport Marine Lab and later out of the small Upper Laguna Madre Field Station in Flour Bluff. While with TPWD he made friends for life and was fortunate to have worked in a wide variety of bay and gulf fishery projects.

McKee was accepted to the PhD program at TAMU-College Station in 1981 and before graduating was hired by Corpus Christi State University (now TAMU-CC) and has since been teaching full-time in the areas of marine science and mariculture. His “pet” courses are Ichthyology and Marine Ecology. He is blessed with being able to work with and mentor future marine/fishery scientists and fish culturists and participate in many different kinds of applied research projects. Everyone taking his classes hears a lot (and hopefully learns a good bit) about the Laguna Madre and its fishes and the therapeutic benefits of fishing.

For the past 6 years McKee has secured funding from CCA for undergraduate marine biology students to intern with TPWD for a summer in his beloved Upper Laguna Madre. Because of this experience and the opportunity to “sell” themselves, several have been hired full-time following graduation.

McKee is a member of the Ananias Fishing Club that was begun in the early 1940s by a group of Corpus Christi anglers that threw only lures for big trout and reds in the Upper Laguna Madre. He has been a judge in the Deepsea Roundup in Port Aransas for the last 30 years and was inducted into the Port Aransas Boatmen’s Association “Hall of Fame” in 2007. In 2007, McKee was given the Coastal Bend Bays Foundation “Conservation and Environmental Stewardship Award for Higher Education”.

McKee has owned a fishing cabin on Baffin Bay for 30 years. A passion is stalking big trout with lures in the Upper Laguna Madre. He takes great pride in his latest boat, a 22’ Stoner Skiff (his 3rd Stoner) a hand-laid commercial net skiff designed exclusively for plying the shallow waters of the Laguna Madre. McKee is a self described “lagunatic” through and through!

McKee has been married to his hometown Sinton High School sweetheart Jane (Hamilton) for the past 37 years. Many of their dates during the “courting” years were fishing trips in the local bays, surf, jetties, Papalote Creek and in the Aransas River. They especially loved fishing around the remains of the old La Quinta Pier near Ingleside. They started fishing the Laguna Madre in the mid-1970s and since acquiring their cabin on Twin Palms Island at Baffin Bay, have spent many wonderful years there with family and friends. Concerning his successes in life, he gives the “lion’s share” of the credit to Jane and their three children: Laura (San Antonio), Hunt (Corpus Christi) and Helen (Fort Worth). They have three beautiful grandchildren Luke, Elliot and Allyson who live in Corpus Christi and will spend lots of precious time on the Laguna Madre at their beloved fishing cabin-“Hewit South”.

In addition to his love for fishing, Tyler found that he could use his voice to entertain friends and family with impressions of teachers and celebrities. Some of his teachers weren’t as entertained but he persevered and ended up with a degree in Radio TV Film from the University of Texas at Austin. An eleven-year career in Radio began first in Anacortes, Washington and then on to Waco, Texas. While in Waco in the 80’s, Tyler handled the morning drive slot and program director duties for three Top 40 radio stations. Along the way he managed to persuade Kelle, his lovely wife, to marry him. During that time they had a daughter, Shawne, and a son, Bryan.

A slump in the radio business became a break for Tyler when his current employer, Creative Education Institute (CEI), an education software company, called him in to audition for a voice job on their reading program called Essential Learning Systems. Tyler won the job and since 1995 has been able to work from his home recording and editing the thousands of sound files CEI creates for use in their math, reading, and science programs. Tyler’s voice is heard in over 1500 different school labs across the country.

A few surf fishing trips in the early 90’s grew to an obsession and in the spring of 1994, Tyler purchased his first 4x4 and he and his family made a total of nine 600 mile round trips to visit the coast before moving to the Seattle area in 1995. In 1997 on vacation back in Corpus Christi, Tyler and some friends took a trip that would change his life - a surf fishing charter with Captain Billy Sandifer. On that trip, Tyler lost a huge Speckled Trout at the 36 mile area and couldn’t get over Billy being mad at him for losing it due to a tight drag. After all he and his friends were paying good money to fish with him. Later on the same trip while shark fishing, Tyler was innocently explaining to his friend that he would love to see that shark rod go off and using his vocal talents, made a sound that sounded just like a 6/0 reel’s drag screaming to illustrate his point. That faux peeling drag sound sent Billy off running to inspect what he thought was a smoking fast shark run. As one can imagine, Captain Sandifer was not pleased but Tyler managed to survive the encounter – like stepping on a stingray without getting stung.

Seeing the wonders of Padre Island on that trip convinced him to talk his wife into moving his entire family down from the Seattle area to Corpus Christi in 1998. Once in Corpus Christi, Tyler was a regular fixture on the Seashore and became friends with Captain Billy, often picking his brain at times while visiting with him down the beach. After seeing that Tyler was a pretty decent fisherman who was conservation minded and loved Padre Island, Billy took him under his wing and became his surf fishing mentor. In 2000, Tyler created Billy’s first website and solicited sponsors for and helped organize the Big Shell Cleanup.

In 2001, Tyler began sharing his love of fishing with his own website - www.corpusfishing.com and through his weekly Friday morning fishing reports with Jim Lago at 1360 KKTX. In 2004, he was selected to serve on the Texas Parks and Wildlife's Spotted Sea Trout Work Group, and took over as the surf fishing writer for the Saltwater Angler Fishing Newspaper. In 2007, he was invited to be on the board of directors of the Corpus Christi Chapter of CCA, and in 2008 was honored to be asked to serve on the board of the Friends of Padre, Inc.

After Basic Training and Advanced Infantry Training he was submitted to countless tests physical, emotional, and ,mental ,he was accepted into Warrant Officer Helicopter Flight Training . While awaiting orders to the flight school, he was deployed to Seoul , South Korea., where upon arrival at Kimpo Airbase in Korea he was met by two men carrying a folder containing his dossier. He was interviewed , tested, and recruited into the Eighth U.S. Army Honor Guard. While in the Honor Guard some of his duties included ceremonial drills and providing personal armed security for visiting dignitaries traveling between locations and attending State Functions. Some of the honoraries he personally guarded included President Lyndon Baines Johnson , Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey , Vice President then President Richard M. Nixon , General Westmoreland , General Abrams , plus many others. In the middle of the Monsoon Season , his 13 month tour almost over , he was chosen Soldier of the Month of the Eighth Army. Then he was recruited into G4 , Military Intelligence ( not the oxymoron ), the division . They upgraded his Top Secret Clearance to Crypto ,( his family and neighbors freaked when the FBI came around asking all kinds of questions as to his moral character ! ), and then after passing the investigations, he was “asked” to extend his tour for 6 more months . He answered , “ Are you crazy? You want me to spend another winter here at 20 degrees below zero ?” . After extending his tour , he was assigned directly to General Burnsides and the task of providing transportation and armed escort, wearing a black suit and concealed weapon on many occasions . Many times he escorted “High Brass” up to Panmunjom in the De-Militarized Zone for Armistice Talks with North Korea. Ace was debriefed and separated from the Army on Dec. 24, 1967 at the rank of Sgt E-5 and returned to his beloved Coastal Bend with all it‘s varied fishing and hunting opportunities. Soon after returning home he went to work for Amerada Hess Refinery until Hurricane Celia in 1970. He worked for the Red Cross post hurricane doing Health and Welfare Inquiries of local people who had lost power , utilities, and communications in the aftermath , and reported back on their condition . The H&Ws were facilitated by the mobility of his Harley Davidson Motorcycle in navigating around the huge amounts of debris on the roads where most 4 wheel vehicles could not go. Needless to say , there were some interesting moments when people saw a suspicious looking person on a large , loud motorcycle pulling up to their property, especially after curfew. The motorcycle was so much fun that Ace kept going and toured the US for a few years, visiting every state in the union, stopping and working odd jobs whenever he ran out of money. After getting it out of his system he returned to Corpus Christi and became a commercial fisherman in order to support his family and his love of Big Game Fishing. During this time he was Sergeant at Arms of the Corpus Christi Shark Association and was lucky to meet and fish with many local fishermen, including his good friend Billy Sandifer. In 1976 he studied for his Captains License and was certified with a 20 ton Ocean Operators endorsement. During his deep sea fishing days , Ace caught more than 30 shark over 8’ long , but after having an epiphany and realizing that the wanton killing of large fish for trophies could not go on indefinitely , he became a catch-and-release conservationist. Not wanting to exploit the environment anymore with his commercial fishing either , he went to work in refinery construction , working his way up to Project Manager at refineries all over South Texas , Puerto Rico. Aruba, and Louisiana . After realizing that refineries weren’t much better for the environment ,he quit and in 1990 started his own successful home construction and remodeling company , which he worked at until his retirement. An avid dart player Ace was elected President of the 600 member Electronic Dart Association of Corpus Christi and still throws darts occasionally . Since 2007 Ace has been retired and is devoting his time to giving back to Mother Nature , and promoting conservation and good sportsmanship. Ace and his brother Vito, a great sportsman himself , and Viet Nam Veteran have had an active part in the Big Shell Cleanup every year since 2002 .

Knowing her son’s obsession with chasing our sharp toothed friends, Gabe’s mother, Ada Weil, purchased him a shark fishing trip for a birthday present one September. This would be his first encounter with the popular and well revered Capt. Billy Sandifer, and would be a coming of age experience. Capt Sandifer provided a fishing trip that young fishermens dreams were made of. On that particular trip, Gabe and his friends went 7 for 12 on blacktips and bullsharks, all of which were released, setting the stage for the Conservation practices he employs to date. Countless weekends have been spent camping along the Padre Island National Seashore fishing with family and friends since then. His fondest memories are those of introducing friends to all that the Seashore has to offer, including sharks of the larger variety. Gabe’s most recent “down island” accomplishment involves successfully catching, tagging, and releasing an 11’6” female tiger shark. Since 2004, he has tagged and released over 100 5’+ sharks for the NOAA Apex Predator Program.

Gabe received his Bachelor degree in Business Administration from Texas A&M University, and is currently completing his Masters degree in Business from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Since college, Gabe has spent his professional life working as a Commercial construction Project Manager, overseeing the development of many notable projects in our community.

Gabe enjoys hunting and fishing abroad wherever his travels take him. He has been blessed to have fished and hunted across 3 Continents including the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. His summers are devoted to chasing Marlin across our beloved Gulf, and many weekends are spent competing in Catch & Release billfish tournaments. Gabe is a member of SEA, CCA, IGFA, and the Billfish Foundation. He hopes to continue his efforts towards teaching younger generations the benefits of conservation practices.