KPA Oral History
Buzz Merritt
Wichita Eagle
W. Davis "Buzz" Merritt Jr. was editor of The Wichita Eagle from 1975 through 1998. He is considered one of the fathers of public journalism, a reform movement that urged journalists to do their jobs in ways that could help citizens engage in public life by training journalists to view events from...
Craig McNeal
Council Grove Republican
Craig McNeal is a second generation owner/publisher of the Council Grove Republican. He sold the newspaper on July 1, 2017, and retired. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Kansas State University in 1961, completed military active duty as an officer, and returned to K-...
Doug Anstaett
Kansas Press Association
While Doug Anstaett's professional newspaper career spanned almost five decades, his interest in journalism actually began in the late-1950s when he began proofreading his local newspaper, The People's Herald. He couldn't wait for the Herald to arrive each week because it provided a treasure trove...
John Hanna
Associated Press
Hanna, the AP’s Topeka correspondent for the past 21 years, cut his journalistic teeth as a legislative relief staffer in 1986 and again after graduation from the University of Kansas in January of 1987. He served under Lew Ferguson, also a member of the Hall of Fame, until Ferguson’s retirement in...
Linda Denning
Ellsworth County Independent-Reporter
Here's how Linda Denning, editor and publisher of the Ellsworth County Independent-Reporter, described her first exposure to journalism:
Sharon Kessinger
Marysville Advocate
Sharon Kessinger started her career in journalism at the Pryor Creek Daily Times in Pryor Creek, Oklahoma after she graduated from Kansas State University with her degree in journalism in 1959. She was born in 1937 to Pearl and Owen Totten in the back of their hardware store in Winifred, Kansas....
Tom Throne
Junction City Daily Union & McPherson Sentinel
Tom A. Throne was born on Dec. 22, 1949, in Washington, D.C. An Army brat, he traveled across the country and to Germany as a child. His mother, Marcella, was from Newton, Kan., and his dad, Al, was a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Medicine, so Tom always wanted to attend KU and...