OPC Hall of History - Omaha Press Club | Home

West Wall • OPC Traditions
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In the winner’s circle at a 1959 Ak-Sar-Ben Race
sponsored by OPC
John Savage, on the job, circa late 1940s. Savage
had a reputation of knowing everybody in
Omaha. He is credited with getting 1,000 nonbinding pledges of membership as collateral for
a building loan for our restaurant atop the First
National Center. The deal was struck with John
Davis, bank president at the time. Davis
remained a good friend of the Press Club
Howard Swain performs at an OPC Show
Omaha World-Herald columnist Bob McMorris as
“Tiny Tiemann” in late 1960s OPC Show. Sixfoot-tall ex-Army sergeant Gov. Norbert Tiemann
was “honored” with the skit
Dedicating the Spiro Agnew Room (the private
room on the south) and unveiling Agnew’s “Face
on the Barroom Floor” in 1972: John Savage,
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Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, and then-OPC
President Terry Forsberg
6. President Gerald R. Ford, born in Omaha, signs
his “Face on the Barroom Floor” in 1976
7. Press Club under construction in 1971. OPC’s
Bob McMorris, John Savage and Mary Lou
Anderson with John Davis of First National Bank
8. Sen. Edward Zorinsky, D-Neb., in his last public
appearance. The senator suffered a fatal heart
attack shortly after performing a parody to “The
Great Pretender” in the 1987 OPC Gridiron Show
at Peony Park. His backup singers were Joni
Hoffman, Liz Coury, Carol Schrader and (not
pictured) Chris Christen Nelson
9. Verla Hamer and Steve Murphy at OPC Show
10. Press Club streetcar steak fry in John Savage’s
backyard
11. ConAgra CEO Mike Harper, as Gen. George Patton
in 1988 OPC Show, “Harper’s Bizarre: Nebraska
Gets the Business”
North Wall • Omaha Press Club Hall of History
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Early plate camera, circa 1900, on loan from the Nebraska State
Historical Society
Serial killer Charles Starkweather, being escorted into the Douglas
County courtroom for his arraignment in February 1958. He was
executed at age 19 in 1959
Pat Hall, Omaha World-Herald photographer, photographing the Sower
atop the Nebraska State Capitol
Early TV film camera, circa 1960s. On loan from Dave Hamer
Omaha newsboy John Radicia — World War II ends
The World-Herald, circa 1890s. Nebraska farmers show off their tall
corn in front of the World-Herald at 1412 Farnam St. At the turn of
the century, Nebraska was a leading corn producer
Omaha Press Club Hall of History subcommittee, 1998:
Chris Nelson, chair, Steve Murphy, Dave Hamer, James Denney,
Howard K. Marcus, Dottie Sater, Julie Zelenka.
This key produced by a subcommittee of the OPC Communications Committee, 2005:
Judy Horan, Bridget Brooks, Jon Brooks.
Pulitzer Winners
North Wall • Nebraska Campaign Stops
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President Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961)
President William Howard Taft (1909-1913)
President Lyndon Johnson (1963-1969)
Alabama Gov. George Wallace
Nebraska Congressman William Jennings Bryan,
three-time presidential candidate, was named
secretary of state in 1912 under President
Woodrow Wilson
President McKinley’s visit during the 1898
TransMississippi and International Exposition,
which drew 2.6 million people to Omaha
Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey
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Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb. (1989-2001), was
previously Nebraska’s governor, 1983-1987
President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-N.Y., speaking to
crowds at 24th and Erskine, 1968. He was
assassinated a short time later in Los Angeles
President Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974) with
Sen. Carl T. Curtis, R-Neb
President Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) visits
North Platte
President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932-1948)
President George H.W. Bush (1989-1993)
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Pulitzer winners
World-Herald photographer Earle “Buddy” Bunker
photographed the return of Lt. Col. Robert Moore at
the train station at Villisca, Iowa. The World War II
hero is greeted by his 7-year-old daughter, Nancy,
while his wife sobs. Looking on is the colonel’s
nephew. The photograph (“The Homecoming”) won
the Pulitzer Prize in 1944 and was later featured in
Life, Time, Newsweek and other national publications.
Bunker died in 1975
“Law of the Jungle” — This World-Herald editorial
by Harvey Newbranch won the 1920 Pulitzer for
editorial writing
Douglas County Courthouse riot in 1919
Associated Press Teletype
• EXHIBIT FUNDING PROVIDED BY THE OMAHA WORLD-HERALD FOUNDATION
• DESIGN BY MAD DOG EXHIBIT DESIGN (LINCOLN)
• P UBLICATION R ESEARCH AND D ESIGN BY THE OMAHA P RESS C LUB
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE AND IMAGE BUILDING COMMUNICATIONS
(OMAHA)
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North Wall • News Makers
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South Wall, Right Side • News Gatherers - Part #2
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Arnold Peterson — WOW Radio-TV farm director
TV personality Joni Baillon of KMTV interviewing
Johnny Carson of NBC-TV’s “Tonight Show” in 1969.
KMTV was then an NBC affiliate. He was in town to
open his first “Here’s Johnny” restaurant on S.
72nd Street. Carson, who died in 2005, had worked
in Omaha at WOW-TV
Television personality Betty Abbott, here
pitching Gingham Girl products, later became
the first female member of the Omaha City
Council
Carol Schrader, circa mid-1980s, KETV evening
anchor for 15 years
WOW-TV newsroom in 1971. (From bottom
clockwise) Ray Depa, Don Peterson, Steve
Murphy, Russ Baldwin, Arnold Peterson, Larry
Hall, Bill Burke, Bob Mockler, Pete Petrashek,
Jan Hall Colanino
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Byron Wood and Gary Kerr, WOWT-TV co-anchors,
recording promos with Walter Cronkite in the
New York studios of CBS-TV
WOW-TV news unit
Omaha World-Herald typesetter
Newspaper type case
World-Herald newsroom in the 1930s
KFAB Radio morning team: Kent Pavelka, Don
Cole and Walt Kavanaugh in 1989
WOW-TV live on location during 1952 flood
Steve Bell, WOW-TV newscaster in the early
1960s; he later became an ABC news
correspondent in Vietnam. President John F.
Kennedy is in the background
Mary McGrath, Omaha World-Herald, first woman
to break into news reporting ranks in Omaha,
was a medical writer
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Baseball Hall of Fame member Bob Gibson broke
records during 17 years with the St. Louis Cardinals
Rep. Robert Denney, D-Neb; Sen. Roman L.
Hruska, R-Neb.; U.S. Attorney Gen. John
Mitchell; U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Clifford
Hardin
“Mrs. B.,” Rose Blumkin, Russian immigrant who
founded the Nebraska Furniture Mart in 1937.
She died in 1998 at age 104
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor
Roosevelt, Sen. Gilbert M. Hitchcock, D-Neb.
University of Nebraska head football coach Bob
Devaney (1962-1972), whose 1971 Nebraska
team was voted history’s greatest. His teams
achieved eight Big 8 Championships and two
national championships
Nikita Khrushchev at Garst farm near Coon
Rapids, Iowa, in 1958. WOW-TV and Radio staff
members: Bill Ramsey, Bill Laviolette, Harry
Stutsman, Arnold Peterson and Ray Clark (WOWTV’s first news anchor in 1949)
Gen. Curtis LeMay, founder of the Strategic Air
Command at Offutt Air Force Base, with World
War II ace Joe Foss
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Omaha investor Warren Buffett with an annual
report from his company, Berkshire-Hathaway.
The billionaire has appeared in a number of OPC
Shows
University of Nebraska football coach Tom
Osborne
Father Edward J. Flanagan, founder of Boys
Town, and actor Spencer Tracy who won an Oscar
for his role in the 1938 movie “Boys Town”
Nebraska author Mari Sandoz on the set at
Channel 12 in Lincoln
Nebraska State Sen. Ernie Chambers, first elected
in 1970
Republican Sen. George W. Norris represented
Nebraska in Congress for 40 years
Gene Leahy, Omaha’s fun-loving mayor from 1967
to 1973, wore a bunny suit for charity and once
at a news conference
War hero Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing
Omaha City Councilwoman and mayoral
candidate Brenda Council
Speed Graphic press camera, circa 1950s. On loan
from Bill Ramsey
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North Wall • News Gatherers
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North Wall • Headline Stories
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Caril Ann Fugate was 14 when she accompanied
her boyfriend, serial killer Charles Starkweather,
on a killing spree across Nebraska. Convicted in
1958, she was paroled from prison in 1976
Blizzard of 1975. Stranded motorists at high noon on
72nd Street, looking north. Dodge Street and
Crossroads Mall are in the background
Omaha police officer Jimmy Wilson’s funeral, 1995
The 1913 Easter Sunday tornado struck Omaha
with little warning
Joe Frazier’s weigh-in before he fought and beat
Ron “Bluffs Butcher” Stander in Omaha in 1972.
Council Bluffs native Stander had been ranked
eighth in the world
Omaha World-Herald editorial cartoon by Jeff
Koterba, 1991
In 1879, the trial of Ponca Indian Chief Standing
Bear in a United States District Court in Omaha
led to a judicial decision that native Americans
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are “persons within the meaning of the law” and
have rights of citizenship. (l-to-r) Walk-in-the-Wind,
the chief’s orphaned grandson; Standing Bear;
Sunshine, his only living child; Susette, the chief’s
wife; and Light of the Way, an orphaned niece
The old Omaha post office was demolished in
the 1960s
Lloyd Bentsen and Dan Quayle during 1988 vicepresidential debate at the Omaha Civic
Auditorium
President Harry S Truman walking up Dodge
Street to Memorial Park dedication on June 5,
1948
Crash of United Airlines Flight 232 in Sioux City,
Iowa, 1989
Nebraska football Quarterback Tommie Frazier
led the Nebraska Cornhuskers to two consecutive
National Championships in the 1990s
Missouri River flood, 1952
1975 Omaha tornado, Ak-Sar-Ben area
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WOW-TV and Radio reporter Dottie Hayes (Sater)
interviewing actor Jimmy Stewart. He starred
in the movie “Strategic Air Command” —
released in 1955. As Col. Jimmy Stewart, he was
a bomber pilot in the Army Air Corps
KFAB Radio Husker Team — Lyell (“Man, woman
and child”) Bremser, Dave “Blackie” Blackwell,
Jack Payne
Tom Allan — Omaha World-Herald reporter for 52 years
Bill Billotte — Omaha World-Herald reporter in
the Pacific during World War II
Omaha’s first television weatherman, Chuck
Thomas of WOW-TV
Floyd Kalber, early KMTV newsman in 1950, who
left Omaha in 1960 for a career as a news anchor
in Chicago and for NBC-TV’s “Today Show”— with
Mark Gautier, later KMTV news director
KMTV live truck on Douglas Street (circa 1950)
News photographer Dave Hamer and newsman Tom
Brokaw of KMTV. Brokaw went on to become NBC
Nightly News anchor before retiring in 2004
Headset that belonged to KFAB Radio’s “Mr.
Football” Lyell Bremser, Voice of the Huskers,
1939 to 1983. “Oh, man, woman and child...”
10. Hollis Limprecht, editor of the Omaha WorldHerald Sunday “Magazine of the Midlands” for
24 years
11. KMTV news correspondent Ninette Beaver in an
exclusive interview with fugitive Caril Ann Fugate
12. Jim Denney, Omaha World-Herald reporter, at
Mount Rushmore
13. Early radio microphone on loan from the
Nebraska State Historical Society
14. Omaha World-Herald newsmen Fred Ware, Greg
McBride and Wally Provost
15. Arthur Godfrey, CBS-TV show host (1948-1959)
and Mal Hansen of WOW-TV and Radio. Godfrey
and his horse were putting on a dressage
exhibition at the Ak-Sar-Ben Rodeo
16. Lee Terry, KETV’s news director and news anchor
for more than 17 years
17. John Savage, award-winning Omaha World-Herald
photographer and a founder of the Omaha Press
Club, covering the 1940 Henshaw Hotel fire,
which destroyed the Redick Building next door
18. Early Omaha radio station
19. Howard Silber, Omaha World-Herald military
affairs reporter
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