Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame resurrected

After being inactive for almost 50 years, the Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame is being brought back to life by the Nevada Press Association.

The late Hank Greenspun, founder of the Las Vegas Sun; Ruthe Deskin, assistant to the publisher of Sun; and Sun Executive Editor Mike O'Callaghan are among 34 people who will be the first ones inducted into the new Hall of Fame.

Inductees will be honored at a Sept. 26 luncheon at the Nugget hotel-casino in Sparks during the state press association's annual convention.

"Nevada, like so many aspects of its past, has a rich and colorful history when it comes to newspapers and especially the people who wrote, edited and published them," said Kent Lauer, the press association's executive director. "When you think about newspaper wars, feisty owners, publishers struggling to keep a small weekly paper alive and provocative columnists, this state has had them all."

The association's board of directors decided earlier this year to resurrect the Hall of Fame.

The journalism department of the University of Nevada, Reno and the press association established the Newspaper Hall of Fame in 1948 and inducted three journalists, including Mark Twain.

In addition to Deskin and O'Callaghan, a former Nevada governor, inductees from Las Vegas will include David Osborn of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Area journalists receiving their inductions posthumously along with Greenspun are former Review-Journal employees A.F. Cahlan, Ray Germain and William V. Wright.

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