Remembering John Gordon: A Legacy in Waterfowling, Storytelling, and the DU Family (Ep 747)
Ducks Unlimited Podcast
Ducks Unlimited Inc.
4.9 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 10 February 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this special tribute episode, we honor the life, impact, and legacy of John Gordon—Media Productions Manager at Ducks Unlimited, lifelong outdoorsman, storyteller, mentor, friend, and a familiar voice to DU Nation and the Ducks Unlimited Podcast. John’s passing in January of 2026 left a profound void in the waterfowling community he spent a lifetime uplifting.
Through stories and archival audio, we revisit John’s journey from his Mississippi roots to the Texas prairies that shaped his early hunting life, and eventually to his influential role at Ducks Unlimited where he helped bring DU Nation, DU Films, and countless conservation stories to life.
About John Gordon
- Born in Mississippi, later moving with his family to Kingwood, Texas, where he discovered goose hunting and the Texas coastal prairie that shaped his lifelong passion.
- Worked as a snow goose guide on the Katy, Texas prairie before joining Ducks Unlimited.
- Graduated from Mississippi State University with a BA in Communications.
- Served as a Senior Communications Specialist at Ducks Unlimited, coordinating production for DUTV, DU Nation, and Ascend. .
- Frequent contributor and co‑host on the Ducks Unlimited Podcast, featuring conversations on retrievers, hunting heritage, and waterfowl history.
- Recognized writer with published work in WILDFOWL, Outdoor Life, and more.
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Send feedback: DUPodcast@ducks.org
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, everyone, welcome to the Ducks Unlimited podcast. |
| 0:02.3 | I'm going to be one of your hosts on today's episode, Mike Brazier. |
| 0:05.3 | I'm joined in the studio by Katie Burke. |
| 0:07.2 | Hey, Mike. |
| 0:08.3 | Dr. Jared Henson. |
| 0:09.8 | Hey, Mike. |
| 0:10.4 | And Nathan Ratchford. |
| 0:11.7 | Hey, Mike. |
| 0:12.8 | We are here to pay tribute to a fallen friend and colleague of ours, John Gordon, |
| 0:18.8 | who passed away in a very untimely situation, tragic situation. |
| 0:25.0 | He was on location, doing what he loved best, working for Ducks Unlimited, hunting ducks, |
| 0:32.0 | spending time in the field with his friends, with his dogs, the way we all knew John and thought of him. And a tragic accident |
| 0:42.5 | that occurred on January 17th, John was transported to the hospital and was and passed away a |
| 0:50.2 | couple of days later. And of course, it was a huge shock to all of us in the waterfowl community, |
| 0:56.2 | and we wanted to take a few minutes to share some of our memories, pay tribute to John, |
| 1:01.1 | what he was, what he brought to this profession, share some of maybe a few stories or |
| 1:07.7 | the ways in which we knew him him and also remember his tremendous accomplishments. |
| 1:14.6 | I think a lot of which people probably didn't realize unless you took time to talk to John. |
| 1:21.7 | And it's very, as I've described it and thought about him over the past couple of weeks, |
| 1:25.0 | very unassuming in the amount of knowledge he had, the experiences he had. Katie, we were reflecting on how long John had been with DU and |
| 1:33.4 | just a little bit shorter than you had been here, right? Yep, and he came a couple years after me. |
| 1:39.3 | And we all had an opportunity to work with John through various various ways. I worked with him on the |
... |
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