Eight members of The Daily Texan Hall of Fame were honored at the annual Friends of The Daily Texan Hall of Fame event April 17 on the UT campus.
The event was dedicated to beloved educator and outstanding journalist Griff Singer, who died at the age of 93 on March 25.
“It was an evening of sadness yet also celebration: honoring the outstanding career of Griff, who was named ‘THE Friend of The Daily Texan’ in 2014 at an event dedicated entirely to his contributions to education and journalism,” said Friends president John Reetz. “We said thank you to Griff then. And tonight we say it again.”
In addition to honoring Griff and eight new Hall of Fame members, 3 Rising Star award winners were honored, scholarship grants were presented to 16 Daily Texan staffers and Interim Dean Anita Vangelisti of Moody College of Communication updated attendees on events at Moody.
The event, sponsored by Friends of The Daily Texan, Inc., recognizes Texan alumni who have had distinguished careers and individuals who have been steadfast supporters of The Daily Texan.
Platinum sponsors of the event were Lynne Dobson and Greg Wooldridge and Gold sponsors were Kristina Paledes and Tom Bower.
The gathering was held in the Walter Cronkite Plaza and adjacent auditorium on the UT campus.
New Hall of Fame members are:
- Jane Chesnutt served as Editor-in-Chief/Vice President of Woman’s Day from 1991 to 2009. During her tenure, WD was always among the top three best-selling magazines in the country, at its peak reaching an estimated 22 million women.
- John R. Erickson has written and published 75 books and more than 600 articles, and is best known as the author of the Hank the Cowdog series of books, audio-books and stage plays.
- Martin L. “Red” Gibson is a member of the Texas Newspaper Hall of Fame, the first journalism educator to receive this recognition. He worked at the Austin American-Statesman, the New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, the Houston Chronicle and the Galveston Daily News. Then he was a professor of journalism for 24 years at UT.
- Oscar Griffin Jr. broke open a massive scandal in West Texas, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1963 as editor at the Independent and Enterprise. He led the paper’s investigation of the fraud scandal involving Billie Sol Estates in 1962.
- Suzanne O’Malley covered the high-stakes Andrea Yates trial for Oprah Magazine and NBC’s Dateline, and later wrote a best-selling book on the murders of Yates’ 5 children. She also was a writer for “Law and Order.”
- Ed Sargent is a copy editor extraordinaire at numerous top newspapers in the Southwest, and one of the unheralded journalists behind the scenes — hardworking editors, deskmen and newsroom managers — who are the ones responsible for getting the news before the reader’s eyes and ensuring that it is fair, accurate, appropriately played, well-written and topped with an engaging headline.
- Jan Sonnenmair is an award winning photojournalist, documentary filmmaker and educator. Jan has been the recipient of several awards including the World Press Foundations’ award for Photo Essay for a 4 year project on a child with AIDS.
- Andy Yemma held many reporting-editing-and managing positions for 12 years at United Press International wire service, and was Business Editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. After his journalism career, he worked in corporate communications with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. He finished his corporate career as a partner in a financial public relations firm in New York.
Read more about them at : https://friendsofthedailytexan.org/
Also, scholarships totaling $27,500 were awarded to 16 Daily Texan staff members. The awards ranged from $1,000 to $2,500 for the recipients.
The Friends of The Daily Texan offered its first grant to one student: $1,500 in 2018. The Friends group’s drive to permanently fund the scholarships started three years ago with a goal of $300,000, but the endowment has now grown to $600,000.
Learn more about the scholarship winners at:
In addition, Three new Rising Star award winners were recognized.
They are:
- Megan Menchaca, the senior education reporter for the Houston Chronicle, where she covers Houston ISD — the state’s largest school district — and K-12 education news.
- Sami Sparber, real estate reporter and newsletter writer at Axios, where she’s worked as a journalist since March 2022.
- Catherine Marfin, senior media relations specialist at UTHealth Houston, where she advocates for doctors in the university’s neurology, psychiatry and critical care departments to share patient success stories and research advances with local, state and national media.
Read more about them here:
The Friends group is a 501 (3) (c) non-profit corporation. The group supports The Daily Texan with funding of 16 scholarships a year to Texan staff members, plus funding of technology and infrastructure needs, travel, photo and video needs, training and other needs requested by Texan student management. Funds raised for this campaign will. Friends of The Daily Texan, Inc. is a non-profit organization established to lend support and assistance to The Daily Texan, an institution at the University of Texas at Austin since 1900. Members include alumni of The Texan, plus other supporters of a free and unfettered student media at UT. The group’s guiding principle is etched in stone at the entrance to one of the buildings occupied by The Texan during its illustrious journalistic history: Vincit omnia veritas. Truth conquers all.
