W. Page Pitt School of Journalism & Mass Communications

Marvin Stone

Class of 1947

Marvin Stone had an international reputation in journalism. In his 50-year career, he filed stories from 35 countries, covered four wars, and traveled with three presidents. After serving as a Navy small-boat officer in the Pacific in World War II, Stone came to Marshall where he graduated in 1947. His career started as a police reporter with the Huntington Herald-Dispatch. He earned a master’s degree in 1949 from Columbia University, and joined the International News Service wire agency in the 1950s. He covered the Korean War, was a European correspondent and director for the Far East. Stone joined U. S. News and World Report as an associate editor in 1960, he was named executive editor in 1973 and became the equivalent of the editor in chief in 1976. He was the third editor of the publication. In 1985, Stone accepted an offer from President Ronald Regan to serve as the deputy director of the United States Information Agency. He left in 1989 to become the president and chairman of the International Media Fund, a Washington-based, government-funded organization encouraging a free press in Eastern Europe. His work was recognized with dozens of awards including an honorary doctorate from Marshall in 1968, a Marshall Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1974 and induction into the Sigma Delta Chi Journalism Hall of Fame in 1990. He is remembered most in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications for his extraordinary generosity and his special relationship with W. Page Pitt, his teacher and lifelong mentor. The journalism and mass communications library is named in honor of Stone.

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L. T. Anderson

Class of 1942

Twice a Pulitzer Prize finalist, Leonard Troy (L. T.) Anderson was best known for his insightful, witty and “to the point” columns. Anderson launched his 50-year career as a reporter for the Hinton Daily News. He joined the Charleston Gazette in 1950 as a copy editor, and, then, he became a writer for the Charleston Gazette and for the Charleston Daily Mail. He rose to city editor and associate editor for the Charleston Gazette. He was a World War II veteran, and in 1984 he received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from West Virginia State College for his influence on the state’s political scene. He won numerous writing awards from West Virginia Press Association and from the Associated Press.
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Jim Comstock

Class of 1934

Jim Comstock is a nationally recognized publisher of Appalachian heritage, folklore and humor and noted for his column, The Comstock Lode. Starting his career as a high school English teacher, Comstock moved into the newspaper business as a writer and publisher. His career was interrupted when, in 1942, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy where he served as a message decoder on Guam during World War II. After the war he worked for a time for the Clarksburg Exponent Telegram, and then founded the News Leader in Richwood with his former pupil, Branson McClung. He launched in 1957 a 20-year project of publishing materials by and about West Virginians in The West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia. From 1957 to 1980 Comstock and McClung edited and published The West Virginia Hillbilly, saluting and celebrating Appalachian tradition and custom and originating his witty column, The Comstock Lode.  A 2016 Paris Review article identified the West Virginia Hillbilly as not just a paper, but an art project. Comstock served as the editor of The New West Virginia Review, he published a book titled, Pa and Ma and Mr. Kennedy and he established Mountain State Press to publish books about West Virginia. Comstock was instrumental in the preservation of the Pearl S. Buck home and the Cass Scenic Railroad. He founded the University of Hard Knocks in 1954, an honorary society for successful individuals who never completed college, received a Doctor of Letters from Marshall University in 1963, was the 1982 West Virginia Writer of the Year.
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Charles “Charlie” Connor, Jr.

Class of 1948

Charlie Connor, over a 34-year span, was a reporter, a columnist and executive editor of the Charleston Daily Mail. He left Charleston in 1981 to become president and publisher of the Beckley Newspapers where he continued until when the publication was sold. Connor is among the founders of the Beckley Area Foundation, and he was named executive director in 1987. He is a 1990 recipient of the Spirit of Beckley Tribute, a two-time recipient of the Distinguished West Virginian Award, a National Highway Award recipient, a Community Service (in recreation) Award recipient and he received numerous West Virginia Press Association Awards.  He served in World War II with the Army signal corps.
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C. Donald Hatfield

Class of 1957

In a career spanning 47 years, Don Hatfield moved from part time sports writer at The Huntington Advertiser to publisher and regional vice president for Gannett. Hatfield has been a sports reporter, a news reporter, and managing editor of The Sunday Herald-Advertiser from 1972 to 1979, executive editor of The Huntington Herald-Dispatch from 1979 to 1982, and editor and publisher of The Herald-Dispatch and regional vice president in charge of four Ohio news operations and a Pennsylvania newspaper as well as The Herald-Dispatch. In 1986 Hatfield was named editor and publisher of The Tucson Citizen and also became regional vice president over newspapers in El Paso, Santa Fe, Tucson and the USA Today print site outside of Phoenix. It was from that position he retired in 2000. He also served on the Associated Press Managing Editors Board of Directors for six years. He was a member of the American Press Institute and won numerous writing awards. Hatfield worked on a number of indelible stories during his tenure with the Huntington newspapers including the 1970 Marshall football team plane crash, the Silver Bridge collapse at Point Pleasant, W. Va. and the Buffalo Creek flood. He broke the story of Hal Greer’s enrollment at Marshall University, bringing the school’s first black player to campus. Later, Hatfield would hire the first African-American reporter for the Huntington newspapers, Angela Dodson. Hatfield also has published short stories, numerous articles and three books, two about the newspaper business, Don Hatfield Cleans Out His Closet and Newspaperman: A Memoir, and a collection of short stories, A Pocketful of Cinders.  He is the great-great-grandson of “Preacher Anse” Hatfield.
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Dallas “Tex” Higbee

Class of 1939

Dallas Higbee worked for the Huntington Herald-Dispatch and the Logan Banner during 1939, the year he graduated from Marshall. But it was at the Charleston Gazette that he made his career. He joined the Gazette in 1940, became executive news editor in 1956, executive editor in 1962 and retired in 1980. His expertise in newspaper design was nationally recognized. He served on the Associated Press Managing Editors Association Board of Directors for six years and as treasurer for three years.  Higbee served as president of the West Virginia Press Association and the state Associated Press Association.
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John D. “Jack” Maurice

Class of 1935

John D. “Jack” Maurice was the Pulitzer Prize-winning editor (1950-78) of the Charleston Daily Mail. He received the award in 1975 for his editorials about the Kanawha County textbook controversy. He was the editor of the Charleston Daily Mail from 1950 to 1978 and continued as a contributing editor from 1978 to 1984. He won the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi national award for distinguished service in journalism in 1958. He was twice honored by Marshall University, first with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 1963 and the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1977.
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Burl Osborne

Class of 1960

While he was a student at Marshall, Burl Osborne worked at The Daily Independent, but soon after graduation he launched a 20-year career with the Associated Press, starting as a correspondent in Bluefield, W. Va. By 1964, Osborne was heading the Associated Press in Spokane, Wash. He continued to work in a number of locations with the AP and he was eventually named managing editor of the wire service’s worldwide news operations in 1977. In 1980 he started working as the executive editor at The Dallas Morning News, and the newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting while under his leadership. He was named senior vice president and editor in 1983, president in 1985 and publisher in 1991. Finally, he was appointed as the executive officer of the Belo Corporation. Osborne served on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE), and he was editor of the Society’s publication, The Bulletin. He also was president of the ASNE Foundation.  He was a member of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, a Trustee of the Foundation for American Communications and a Pulitzer Prize juror. Osborne, in 1992, was the recipient of the National Press Foundations George David Beveridge Jr. Award for Editor of the Year and in 1993 he was named the Pattagart Texas Newspaper Leader of the Year.
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Lou Sahadi

Class of 1953

Lou Sahadi has written more than 25 sports focused books including a 2014 addition of 100 Things Clemson Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, published by Triumph books. Among his other books are Johnny Unitas: America’s Quarterback, Pro Football’s Gamebreakers, Steelers: Tears of the Decade, Miracle in Miami: The Miami Dolphins Story, and The Long Pass, one of 250 books selected by Nixon Library. The Washington Post called Sahadi “the Super Bowl book king” for his series about Super Bowls XIII through XVI. Sahadi was an independent magazine publisher and served as the editor/publisher/director of Pro Football Monthly Magazine, Pro Football Scene, Pro Boxing Scene, Pro Hockey Scene, Pro Baseball Scene, Pro Basketball Scene, and Argosy, a Men’s Adventure and Exposé Chronicle. His article about Phil Rizzuto (May, 1993) was acclaimed by Larry King in his USA Today column and spearheaded Rizzuto’s induction into baseball’s Hall of Fame the next year. In November 2000, Sahadi wrote a treatment regarding the 20^th anniversary of the Marshall University football plane crash, and it became a one-hour special on ESPN. He is a 1968 Distinguished Service Award winner form the Marshall University Alumni Association.
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Ernest “Ernie” A. Salvatore

Class of 1948

Though his sports writing career began with The Greenwich Times in Connecticut, Ernie Salvatore invested nearly 60 years covering sports for the Huntington newspapers. He came to Huntington in the 1940s to attend Marshall University. When the U. S. entered World War II, Salvatore entered the army and served as an x-ray technician, and then, returned to Huntington where he worked as a sports writer, columnist and editor for The Huntington Advertiser and then for The Herald-Dispatch when the newspapers merged. Salvatore is said to be the first reporter at the scene of the 1970 Marshall football team’s plane crash. He retired in 1988 as executive sports editor, but he continued to write for the paper in some capacity until 2007. In April 1999, he received The Herald-Dispatch Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement, and in April 2008 Marshall’s Joan C. Edwards football stadium press box was named in his honor. Joe Manchin, state governor in 2008, recognized Salvatore as a Distinguished West Virginian. Salvatore is a past president of the West Virginia Sports Writers Association, and he was a member of the Sons of Italy, a member of Sigma Delta Chi Society of Professional Journalists, an honorary member of Ebony Golf Classic Committee and a charter member of the National WWII Museum. He served as a member of the Salvation Army Advisory Board, and he is the author of the book, Ernie Salvatore’s Sportin’ Life.
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Gay Pauley Sehon

Class of 1942

Hired immediately after graduating from Marshall’s journalism program, Gay Pauley Sehon started a 42-year career with United Press International. She was first with the Charleston, W. Va., bureau where she covered state politics and the capital newsbeat. She soon moved to Louisville, Ky. to organize and direct the state bureau. In 1947, she moved to New York where she served as columnist, was named the women’s editor in 1957 and senior editor in 1977, becoming the first female senior editor with UPI.  Sehon was a regular panelist on a New York television program “Ladies of the Press,” a member of Women in Communications, recognized with Theta Sigma Phi’s National Headliner Award, and named Daughter of the Year by the West Virginia Society. She was one of few Western reporters to visit China, and she won the New York Chapter Matrix Award for reporting on the People’s Republic of China. Sehon continued as a freelance writer after her retirement from UPI in 1985.
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Paul Sierer

Class of 1951

Though he spent most of his career with The Daily Independent (Ashland, Ky.), Paul Sierer began working for the Ironton Daily News before he graduated from Marshall. Later he joined the editorial staff of the Herald-Dispatch and then moved to Dayton, Ohio, and worked for The Dayton Daily News. Sierer moved to The Daily Independent as a news reporter and began moving through editorial positions. He made history in 1965 when he was the first non-family member named managing editor. In 1972 he took the position of executive editor and only months after was responsible for overseeing the editorial page. He continued as editor until his retirement in 1989. He won numerous awards from Kentucky Press Association and the Associated Press Managing Editors Certificate of Merit for Reporting. He was on the board of directors of the Kentucky Press Association, and, in 1974, he was the president of the Ohio Valley-Kanawha Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi. Sierer also was a World War II veteran.
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Estelle “Bill” Belanger

Class of 1935

Bill Belanger was a pioneer in West Virginia journalism. After breaking barriers herself by becoming an editor in the 70s when most women journalists were restricted to the society sections, she was instrumental in establishing the West Virginia Press Women’s Association and served as its first president. She was an art and drama critic for both Huntington newspapers. She served as an assistant city editor and as a feature editor for The Huntington Advertiser and as city editor and for The Herald-Advertiser. She earned many awards for critical reviews, and for feature and column writing. Her interest in education lasted a lifetime. Thirty-seven years after she completed her bachelor’s degree, Belanger enrolled in the journalism program again and earn her master’s degree in 1972. She was cited as a Woman of Achievement by the Wet Virginia Press Women. Belanger was awarded a study-research grant for a trip to the Orient on a “Meet the People” work and study project with special reports published about the arts for several countries. She was an active alumna the remainder of her life. During the latter part of her career with The Huntington Advertiser and The Herald-Dispatch, she distinguished herself as the fine arts editor. For years after retiring, she continued to write columns.
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H. William “Bill” Chaddock

Class of 1955

After seven years in the newspaper business, Bill Chaddock moved into public relations practice with Columbia Gas. At The Wheeling News-Register, Chaddock worked as a reporter, assistant city editor and sports editor. In the Columbia Gas organization, he was the news department manager, director of public information for Columbia Gas of Ohio, and in 1978 became vice president for communications of the Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation. With Columbia Gas Systems Service Corporation, Chaddock assumed duties of the vice president of corporate communications in 1990 and in 1992 was named senior vice president and director. He is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America and past president of two PRSA chapters. He was recognized as Practitioner of the Year in 1984 by the West Virginia chapter of PRSA, and Public Relations Professional of the Year in 1981 by West Virginia University.
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Henry G. King

Class of 1937

Henry King worked 15 years at the Huntington Publishing Company as a reporter, an assistant telegraph editor, a sports writer and a telegraph editor, before moving into the public relations side of the industry. He was a news bureau representative, an assistant public relations director and the public relations director for United Fuel Gas Company, Charleston, W.Va. from 1952-1973. King then moved to director of editorial services, Columbia Gas of Ohio where he remained until 1981.

King was one of the founders of the W. Page Pitt Scholarship Fund, served three times as member of the board of the Marshall University Alumni Association, and he was the former president of the Kanawha County Chapter of the Marshall University Alumni Association.
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Thomas D. “Tom” Miller

Class of 1959 & 1980

His last title at The Herald-Dispatch was chief correspondent, but Tom Miller served as a sports writer, assistant sports editor, city hall reporter and political reporter for The Huntington Advertiser. Miller worked as a legislative reporter which continued when Huntington’s morning and evening newspapers merged. In 1974, he wrote “Who Owns West Virginia,” an eight-part series about absentee land ownership which earned him three national business awards and which was featured in “The Typewriter Guerrillas,” a book about investigative reporters, written in 1977 by former Marshall Professor John C. Behens. Miller is probably best recognized for his weekly political column, “Under the Dome,” that launched in 1975 and appeared in multiple weekly newspapers around the state as well as in The Sunday Herald-Dispatch. He wrote for the West Virginia Encyclopedia, and he continued as a freelance writer after retirement.
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J. Robert “Bob” Crumpler

Class of 1946

Born in North Carolina and reared in West Virginia, Crumpler graduated from Marshall University in 1946 after an interruption of four years for military service during World War II. He worked as a reporter for The Huntington Advertiser and for The Charleston Daily Mail until 1950, then joined The Louisville Courier Journal & Times. At  The Times he served in the capacities of reporter, assistant city editor, city editor, and for nine years was its assistant managing editor. Crumpler became ombudsman in 1981 and dealt with reader questions and complaints, monitored news columns for accuracy and fairness, and served as an in-house critic.
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Angela Dodson

Class of 1973

Associated with The New York Times since 1983, Angela Dodson began her newspaper, magazine and book editing career as an intern at the Charleston Gazette. The 1973 graduate of Marshall’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications accepted a full-time position with the Huntington Advertiser, and went on to serve as a news correspondent in the Washington, D.C. bureau for the Advertiser’s parent company, Gannett. In 1979 Dodson received her M.A. degree in journalism and public affairs from American University. She worked for the Rochester Times Union, for the Washington Star, and for the Louisville Courier Journal, and in l983 she moved on to the New York Times as a copy editor on the national desk. She was promoted to editor for the Living section and head of the Style Department. In 1992 she became the first African American woman to serve as a senior editor at the New York Times. Dodson left the Times in 1995, but she continued writing and editing for a variety of publications including Essence, DIVERSE: Issues in Higher Education and Black Issues Book Review, of which she became executive editor in 2003. Dodson formed Editorsoncall LLC, a service that connects clients to editors, writers, photographers, graphic artists and consultants, in 2012. She is the host of an award-winning radio program Black Catholics, Yes!, she taught writing and editing for multiple organizations including  the National Black Writers Conference, the National Association of Black Journalists, the American Press Institute, the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Maynard Institute. She is also a past secretary of the National Association of Black Journalists. Dodson was named a Distinguished Alumna in the School of Journalism at Marshall in 1988, she received a Black Achiever in Industry ward from the Harlem YMCA in 1990, she was honored as the Black Alumna of the Year at Marshall University in 1998, and in 2000 she received the Feature Writing Award from the New York Association of Black Journalists. Her book, Remember the Ladies: Celebrating Those Who Fought for Freedom at the Ballot Box, highlighting women’s impact on U.S. politics was published in 2017.
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Norman G. Haddad

Classes of 1958 & 1975

A West Virginia native, Norman Haddad served in numerous management and communications capacities. He was human resources manager for The West Company for a number of years and he had posts with General Electric, Jack Eckerd Corp., U.S. Foods and Prospectus Ltd. Inc. He founded Haddad Management Services in Florida, and he is recognized as a St. Petersburg area civic leader and an avid baseball fan.
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Gordon C. Kinney

Class of 1941

A leader of The Advertising Council for more than 40 years, Gordon Kinney started in journalism as a radio announcer in West Virginia. During World War II, Kinney was a deputy of the Domestic Bureau of War Information in Washington, D.C. Following the war, he began his lifelong career at The Advertising Council, becoming vice president of the council in 1965 and senior vice president for campaigns and media in 1980. Kinney worked on a number of public service campaigns including promoting U. S. Savings Bonds, combating paralytic polio, discouraging impaired driving, fighting drug abuse and encouraging “Keep America Beautiful.”
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Harold R. “Punk” Pinckard

Class of 1929

Harold Pinckard began his journalism career at The Morning Press of Danville, Ill. while he was a student at the University of Illinois. In 1922 he joined the staff of The Huntington Advertiser and subsequently became editor of The Huntington Sunday Herald-Advertiser from its formation in 1927 until 1959, and editorial page editor of The Herald-Dispatch and The Huntington Advertiser from 1959 to 1972. For more than 30 years, Pinckard wrote a Sunday personal column, and he was a Pulitzer Prize candidate. He was an assistant journalism professor at Marshall University for 11 years, he was active in civic affairs and he was founder and first president of the Friends of the Cabell County Public Library in 1944.
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Dr. Ralph J. Turner

Class of 1967

A professor in the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism at Marshall University, Ralph Turner enjoyed a distinguished career as a professional journalist and as a journalism educator, teaching at universities in Florida, Ohio and West Virginia, reporting and editing for newspapers, writing for magazines and practicing public relations. For more than seven years in the 1960s, Turner worked for The Charleston Gazette and then for The Herald-Dispatch and The Huntington Advertiser serving as a crime reporter, a government reporter, legislative reporter, city hall reporter, court reporter, feature writer, and assistant regional editor. From 1967 to 1969 he was the full-time professional adviser for Marshall’s student newspaper, The Parthenon. In the summer of 1972, he was the editor of weekly newspaper, the Wayne County News. He received his bachelor’s in journalism in 1967, his master’s in journalism in 1969 and his Ph.D. from Ohio University in 1982. He also completed a course of study in design at the Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology. Turner’s teaching methods were considered unorthodox because of his animated style, but students reported it was effective. He is credited with cultivating the school’s highly regarded internship program. Turner is the recipient of Marshall’s Distinguished Service Award, and the Society of Professional Journalists named him Outstanding Campus Adviser. He has done writing, editing and design for multiple publications across several states. In 1987 he edited and designed the Marshall University official sesquicentennial pictorial history, Marshall Memories. Turner retired from Marshall in 2003 and he is now an emeritus faculty of the school.
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Larry Ascough

Class of 1963 & 1966

Former president of the National School Public Relations Association and a member for 45 years, Larry Ascough has been recognized as a national leader in school communications management. He worked for the New York Department of Education, and he accepted a position in Dallas, Texas in 1969 where he managed a public affairs staff of more than 100 individuals. He served as the Assistant Superintendent of School District U-46 for almost 20 years. His writing and consulting work has earned him recognition in many states as an effective public relations expert for school systems.×

Nelson Bond

Class of 1934

Nelson Bond is credited with fiction that kept dozens of pulp magazines in business in the 1930s through the 50s, and he is considered one of the founders of modern fantasy and science fiction. He worked for a time in his father’s public relations firm and, also, as a magazine writer. While in Huntington, Bond worked for the Herald Advertiser, and he was editor of the campus newspaper, The Parthenon. A freelance writer best known as an author of fantasy stories he also wrote humor, science fiction, detective stories, sports and light romance. He produced more than 250 short stories for the pulp fiction of his day. As the nation’s attention turned to radio and television, he began scripting programs for them including ABC’s Hot Copy and Ford Theatre. His work includes seven books, three plays, six motion pictures, and more than fifty network television plays. He made a second career as a dealer of antiquarian books. Bond received a Nebula Author Emeritus Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of American in 1998.×

Paul D. Butcher

Class of 1953

Paul Butcher began his Navy career as an apprentice seaman in 1948, and he was commissioned as an ensign upon graduation from Marshall University. Over the course of a 43-year career he rose to Commander Military Sealift Command and Vice Admiral of the United States Navy. He served on eight vessels, commanding four of them, and commanded two task forces. He served as a line officer on a series of warships, assumed a destroyer command during the Vietnam War and he was crucial leader in the Persian Gulf War. During the 1991 war in Iraq, he was the chief of staff and deputy commander of the United States Transportation Command. Butcher has been awarded the Distinguished Service Media with a Gold Star, a Defense Superior Services Medal, the Legion of Merit with four Gold Stars, a Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V,” a Meritorious Service Medal with a Gold Star, and the Navy Commendation Medal with a Combat “V.” In addition, he has twelve campaign, combat and theatre medals. After retiring from the military, Butcher took the position as chairman and chief executive of the American Ship Building Company in Tampa, Fla.×

Gene Kelly

Class of 1941

Gene Kelly served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and after graduating from Marshall, began a career in sports announcing. He started as a radio sportscaster and general manager of WXLW in Indianapolis in 1946. He served as the Philadelphia Phillies play-by-play radio announcer from 1950 to 1960. He moved to the Cincinnati Reds’ broadcast booth in 1960 and on to the St. Louis (football) Cardinals in 1964. He became sportscaster and ports director for Channel 48 Television, Philadelphia, in 1965. During his career, Kelly did television and radio announcing for the Indianapolis 500 automobile race, Big Ten, Notre Dame and Ivy League football games and the Philadelphia Warriors basketball games. He was a minor league pitcher, but arm trouble hampered his progress beyond Class C.×

Charles “CT” Mitchell

Classes of 1953 & 1970

C. T. Mitchell graduated with an A.B. at Marshall in 1953 and a M. A. J. in 1970. After working for a couple of years for his hometown newspaper, The Williamson News, Mitchell moved to The Huntington Advertiser where he was city editor from 1960 to 1972. For nearly 20 years he headed Marshall’s University Relations Department before becoming assistant to the Marshall president in the 1990s. He advised eight Marshall University presidents. In 2006, former Marshall president, Robert Hayes, asked Mitchell to collaborate on writing the book, “$7000 in the Bank: The Remarkable Story of Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine.” Mitchell is also recognized as a founding board member, and later chairman of the board of directors, of Green Acres Regional Center for the Developmentally Disabled as well as Prestera Center. He is noted as a loyal volunteer for Green Acres.×

David A. Peyton, Sr.

Class of 1970

David Peyton began working for the Huntington Publishing Company while he was still a student at Marshall University. After graduation he continued with the company and moved into editor of the editorial page for The Huntington Advertiser. Peyton wrote two syndicated columns, served as a columnist for The Herald-Dispatch for 30 years, wrote columns for The Charleston Daily Mail for a short time and he was on the ground covering the 1970 airplane crash of Marshall’s football team. He is a student of folk culture and the co-author of eight books about computer publishing. He is a long-time member of a recognized local band, 1937 Flood.×

C. Bosworth “Bos” Johnson

Class of 1969

Bos Johnson earned his A.B. from West Virginia University in 1949 and his Master’s Degree from Marshall in 1969. He worked at TV stations in Bluefield in 1948 and in Morgantown from 1948-1952 before moving to Huntington in 1953 to take a position at WSAZ-TV 3. He was named news director and principle anchor in 1960, a position he occupied until 1976 when he became an associate professor of journalism at Marshall University where he taught for 12 years. He left Marshall in 1988 to become vice president of Charles Ryan Associates.

It was Johnson’s voice that was heard repeatedly interrupting programming on Nov. 14 as he covered the plane crash that claimed 75 Marshall football players, coaches and fans in 1970. He said the Marshall plane crash was by far the saddest news story of his career.

Johnson was treasurer of the Radio Television News Director’s Association (RTNDA) from 1968 to 1973 and served a president from 1973-74. He has a history of community service commitments including president of Cabell-Wayne United Way, chairman of the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce, member and chairman of the West Virginia Educational Broadcasting Authority, board member of Leadership Tri-State, board member of Cammack Children’s Center, Cerebral Palsy Council and the Marshall University Library Associates. He was appointed to the Huntington Board of Zoning Appeals. He received the Preceptor Award from San Francisco State University, Distinguished Service Award from Marshall Journalism Alumni Association, Phil Vogel Memorial Award from the West Virginia Associated Press, Distinguished Broadcaster Award from West Virginia Broadcasters Association, the Silver Circle Award from National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the West Virginia Associated Press Lifetime Achievement Award. Johnson was among the inaugural class of the West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame. The C. Bosworth “Bos” Johnson Memorial Scholarship in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications was established in his name.×

James E. Casto

Class of 1964

Jim Casto worked for the Huntington Herald-Dispatch for more than 40 years before retiring in 2004. He is a native of Huntington and he received an undergraduate degree in journalism and master’s degree in English from Marshall. Casto joined the Herald-Dispatch in 1963 where started as a reporter and moved into associate editor in charge of the editorial page. For a time, he was on loan to USA Today as an editorial page staffer. He has written news commentaries for West Virginia Public Radio and he has been a panelist on WPBY-TV’s, Under Fire. He is a member of the National Conference of Editorial Writers, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and the Society of Professional Journalists.  As a freelance writer Casto has written more than 150 articles for magazines and newspapers, and he is the author of several books about the region including Huntington: An Illustrated History, Legendary Locals of Huntington and others about Marshall University, Cabell County and the Ohio River. He has taught both journalism and English at Marshall.

Casto always has been active in community affairs with an extensive list of service including President of the Friends of the Cabell County Public Library and of the Huntington Area Food Bank.  He has served on the on board of directors for Cabell-Huntington Coalition for the Homeless, United Way of the River Cities, Goodwill Industries, James E. Morrow Library Associates and the Tri-State Council Boy Scouts of America, and the West Virginia Faculty Merit Foundation. He has chaired the Air Service Committee of Huntington Area Chamber of Commerce. In costume as Collis P. Huntington, Casto portrays the historical figure and railroad tycoon, presenting at civic clubs and schools.

On his retirement, Marshall presented Casto with the John Marshall Medal of Civic Responsibility in recognition of his services to the university and to the community.×

Dr. George T. Arnold

Classes of 1963 and 1965

Professor Emeritus Dr. George T. Arnold, started his 36-year career in Marshall’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications in 1968. He earned both his Bachelor’s and his Master’s degrees from Marshall and a Ph.D. from Ohio University. Before coming to Marshall, Arnold worked full-time for eight years as a sports and news reporter for the Beckley Raleigh Register and for the Huntington Herald-Dispatch. He also taught high school English for three years.

Arnold served more than 30 years as faculty co-adviser of the student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and co-adviser, Dr. Ralph Turner, were chosen as national chapter advisers of the year in 1990. He is a charter member of WVU High School Teachers Hall of Fame, in 1987 he was the first recipient of the Marshall and Shirley Reynolds Outstanding Teacher Award at Marshall.

He served as director of United High School Press (changed later to United High School Media), and in 2007 he was selected by the university alumni as one of the top professors in school history. He is the author of Media Writer’s Handbook, a Guide to Common Writing and Editing Problems and Arnold has begun writing fiction, producing one published novel, Wyandotte Bound, and one self-published short story, One Minute Past Christmas.×