Inducted: 1998
WILLIAM P. ROSS (1820-1891) is the founding father of Oklahoma journalism. An honor graduate of what is now Princeton University, he was chief of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. He founded and was editor of the first newspaper in what is now Oklahoma, The Cherokee Advocate. He also edited the Indian Journal at Eufaula—now the oldest newspaper in Oklahoma—the Indian Chieftain, and the Indian Arrow. He was a lieutenant colonel in the Army of the Confederacy.