The writer of one of the most deeply felt domestic stories of the Vietnam War, an early 20th-century civil rights leader, a nationally acclaimed sports writer, a First Amendment champion and one of Kentucky’s most familiar broadcast journalists make up the 2023 class of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame.
This year’s five Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame inductees are:
• Sam Dick, of Lexington, a WEKU-FM reporter who spent more than three decades as a highly regarded reporter and news anchor at Lexington’s WKYT-TV;
• The late John Fetterman, a Courier-Journal reporter and editor of The Louisville Times’ Scene section, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1968 C-J Magazine story “Pfc. Gibson Comes Home,” about a community’s farewells to a soldier killed in Vietnam;
• Kim Greene, a Louisville lawyer and First Amendment champion who helped start and run the Kentucky Press Association’s Freedom of Information Hotline to serve member newspapers;
• Dave Kindred of Carlock, Illinois, whose spectacular career included 12 years as a Courier-Journal sportswriter and columnist, which led to him interview Louisville native Muhammad Ali more than 300 times; and
• The late William Warley, founder and editor of The Louisville News and a civil rights crusader who shaped the movement in Kentucky in the first half of the 20th century.
This year’s induction ceremony will be held 6 p.m. Friday, March 31, at the University of Kentucky Gatton Student Center. This year’s ceremony will also feature the annual Joe Creason Lecture in Journalism, which will be delivered by journalist James Fallows, formerly of The Atlantic and author of 11 books, including “Breaking the News” and “Our Towns.”
The Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame was created by the UK Journalism Alumni Association in 1981 to honor native Kentucky journalists or those who spent a significant portion of their careers working for Kentucky news media.
The Joe Creason Lecture in Journalism Series, which honors the memory of outstanding Kentucky journalist and honored alumnus Joe Creason, was established in 1975.
Seating for the event is limited. Previous inductees of the Hall of Fame, members of the press, the UK community and public may RSVP by 4 p.m. Friday, March 17, by calling the UK School of Journalism and Media at 859-257-3904 or emailing pamela.edwards@uky.edu.
University of Kentucky