Dallas Safari Club selected Gray N. Thornton for its 2027 Peter H. Capstick Hunting Heritage Award, which honors lasting work on wildlife conservation and hunting heritage. Thornton spent more than three decades leading Safari Club International starting in 1990, Dallas Safari Club as executive director from 1997 to 2008, and the Wild Sheep Foundation as president and CEO since 2008. He helped found the award after a 2004 proposal, with first presentation in 2005, and the Wild Sheep Foundation now sends over 11 million dollars a year and more than 80 million dollars over a decade to sheep conservation. The honor will be presented at the Saturday banquet of the 2027 convention January 7-10 in Atlanta at Georgia World Congress Center.