A celebrity in Michigan’s hunting and fishing community and a champion of the conservation movement served as guest speaker for the Oxford Chamber of Commerce’s annual golf luncheon held Friday at the Boulder Pointe Golf Club.

Bob Garner shared some history, some memories and some jokes, but the one thing he didn’t do that day was golf.

“I’d rather slam my hand in a car door than play a round of golf,” he told the crowd.

Garner is best known for being the producer, field producer and co-host of the “Michigan Outdoors” television program in the 1980s and for being the executive producer and host of the “Michigan Out-of-Doors” program in the 1990s.

But there are two things folks may not know about Garner.

One, he’s related to Oxford Village Police Chief Mike Solwold. Garner is first cousin to Solwold’s father, Dale.

“There’s 15 of us (first cousins) and we all grew up in Oakland County,” Garner told this reporter.

Garner said he agreed to speak at the chamber event because Solwold asked him to, but he still doesn’t understand why because “I am the least interesting person I know.”

The other thing people may not know is that Garner grew up near Oxford in Independence Township and is a 1971 graduate of Clarkston High School.

He has fond memories of his childhood.

“Oakland County was a great place to grow up. It really was,” he said.

Back then, Garner said “a kid didn’t need any electronic devices,” except for a transistor radio, so he could listen to Detroit Tigers games.

In the 1950s and 1960s, all a kid really needed to keep himself entertained was a fishing rod, a bicycle and a baseball glove, according to Garner.

“If you got bored during the summer (and had) nothing to do, that was your fault . . . There were makeshift ball fields everywhere . . . Everybody was always up for a fishing trip,” he said.

Garner said Oakland County is very fortunate to have all the natural resources it does, particularly the lakes. He often tells people he “grew up in a place where the roads don’t run straight because of all the lakes.”

“You don’t find that up north,” he said.

Although Garner now lives in Cadillac, he said he and his wife of 38 years, Beth, also an Oakland County native, would move back here in “a heartbeat” if it wasn’t for one thing – all the traffic.

In addition to his exploits in the field and on the water, Garner played a pivotal role in the creation of the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF).

While working in the Michigan Senate under Sen. Kerry Kammer, Garner wrote the Kammer Recreational Land Trust Fund Act of 1976, which created the Michigan Land Trust Fund to provide money for the public acquisition of land for resource protection and public outdoor recreation. Funding came from royalties generated by the sale and lease of state-owned minerals, mainly natural gas and oil.

In 1984-85, this fund became the MNRTF.

During its 43-year history, Garner said the fund has spent “over $1.1 billion” on the purchase of “places where the public can go and recreate,” including parks, hunting land and access to lakes and rivers.

“Michigan has a great conservation ethic,” he said.

In Oxford, MNRTF monies were used to acquire Oakwood Lake, Powell Lake and Seymour Lake township parks and develop some amenities within the latter two.