Inducted: 1999 RILEY WARD WILSON (1929-2007) likely interviewed most top executives of every major oil company during his 50-plus year journalism career. Wilson started his journalistic journey during high school as a reporter for the Shawnee News-Star. He made a name for himself as a trailblazer in the field, and quickly rose at the Tulsa […]
Inducted: 1999 PHILIP MORRIS (1940-2017) Philip Morris carved out a career that melded journalism with urban design, planning and preservation disciplines. He was considered something of an institution at the Birmingham, Alabama-based Southern Living magazine group, where he began as a building editor in 1969 and climbed into the position of editor-at-Iarge in 1991. Morris […]
Inducted: 1999 M.J. VAN DEVENTER (1940- ) served almost 30 years as a freelance writer for newspapers and magazines throughout Oklahoma, before earning the position of director of publications for the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and editor of Persimmon Hill magazine. Van Deventer began her career as lifestyle and entertainment editor for the Stillwater […]
Inducted: 1999 LUCIA LOOMIS FERGUSON (1887-1962) showed strong determination and a natural ability for news, when in 1908 and fresh from college, she was named assistant editor of the Cherokee Republican. She found her niche as a champion for women’s rights when she began penning a humorous advice-to-the-Iovelorn column, which was soon picked up by […]
Inducted: 1999 JACK BRANNAN (1936-2014) achieved excellence in nearly all facets of journalism, from foreign news to domestic public relations, during his 40-plus years in the field. After working nearly a decade collectively for the UPI, Joplin Globe and Tulsa World, he stretched his investigative style overseas where he worked as a foreign correspondent. After […]
Inducted: 1999 GEORGE F. TAPSCOTT (1914-2002), assistant chief photographer for The Daily Oklahoman, devoted more than a half century as a highly respected photographer. However, his career as a news photographer took him from Oklahoma City to Germany where he served as a combat photographer for the 45th (Infantry) Division News during World War II. […]
Inducted: 1999 GAYLORD SHAW (1942-2015), senior correspondent in Newsday’s Washington Bureau, had a distinguished journalism career stretching almost 50 years from the back shop of the EI Reno American to the front pages of America’s biggest newspapers. He began his career in 1955 as a 13-year-old sports writer. Shaw’s resume read like a Who’s Who […]
Inducted: 1999 DENNIE HALL (1934-2020) blended outstanding teaching, reporting, editing and public relations into an impressive career. He also initiated the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame and was its guiding light for many years. Hall began his career as a general assignments reporter at EI Dorado News-Times (Ark.), then springboarded into decades’ worth of editorships […]
Inducted: 1999 CLAUDE V. BARROW (1896-1978) achieved countless accolades for his grit and determination in covering the turbulent times of the oil industry. It was his no-nonsense approach to examining the business from 1926-61, which led him to achieve national fame as oil editor for The Daily Oklahoman, a title which he carried proudly during […]