Journalists, media pioneers receive awards, enter HOF

YOUNGSTOWN -- Thousands of Youngstown State University students knew her as a kind, passionate and compassionate journalism instructor and adviser, but Tom Martindale remembered her more simply.

"The woman I knew, I knew as Mom, and she was the finest person I have ever known," Martindale, of Maui, Hawaii, said, referring to his late mother, Carolyn Martindale, a Kent State University graduate who was a general assignment writer for The Vindicator before she served as a faculty member and 15 years as the faculty adviser to the YSU student newspaper, The Jambar.

More recently, the elder Martindale was on the flip side of the journalism coin, however, because she was among the eight distinguished area media professionals who were inducted into the Youngstown Press Club's Hall of Fame during the club's sixth annual Hall of Fame and Awards dinner and program Wednesday evening at Stambaugh Auditorium.

Serving as master of ceremonies was Gerry Ricciutti, who retired in February from a 40-year career in radio and TV broadcast news.

This year's other seven media inductees are Simeon Booker, who was perhaps best known for his courage in covering the Civil Rights Movement and the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till, and who became the Washington Post's first black reporter; Helen Hart Hurlbert, the Warren Tribune Chrolicle's publisher; and Warren P. Williamson Jr., who founded WKBN radio in the mid-1920s. The three of them were inducted into the new media pioneers category.

The other four inductees are Ralph R. "Boots" Bell, a legendary disc jockey from 1959 to 1993 and longtime voice on WHOT radio; Mark Niquette, a Bloomberg News reporter for 15 years; Dan O'Brien, the Youngstown Business Journal's managing editor; and Bob Yosay, retired chief photographer with The Vindicator.

Martindale recalled many instances in which his mother was busily grading students' papers on her couch while around her were three books face down and open: a romance novel, a work-related book and a "wild card" read that included everything from Native American history to indigenous trees to information about beavers.

"She loved sharing what she learned. I'd walk in and she'd stop everything. Her face would light up, and she'd go on to tell me far more about beavers than any child has ever needed to know," he said to laughter.

On a more serious note, his mother was highly upset by the injustices she witnessed during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, Martindale said. Such mistreatment of mainly blacks, along with research she conducted after having returned to Kent State in 1981 to earn a master's degree, was a key impetus for writing her 1986 book, "White Press and Black America."

"There was a zero-tolerance policy in our house for racism -- and where I grew up in the '70s and '80s, that was not the norm," Martindale told the large crowd. "What she had seen in the '50s and '60s wounded her deeply, and she spent her career shining a light on it."

Carolyn Martindale died in 2017.

HELEN HART HURLBERT,

BOOTS BELL

"Helen Hart Hurlbert was a trailblazer," Ed Puskas, editor of The Vindicator/Tribune Chronicle, said, adding that she set the tone for many women to find success in an industry largely dominated by men "in smoky rooms."

In 1936, Hurlbert inherited the position from her mother, Zell Hart Deming, who was among the nation's earliest female newspaper executives. In 1952, she became a cross-platform executive when she bought radio station WRRN-AM 1440, then changed its call letters to WHHH to reflect her initials, as well as her goal of airing local news, public-service programs and community bulletins to match the Tribune Chronicle's civic mission.

Hurlbert, who retired in 1979, died in 1987 at age 94.

"I hope the memories you have of him bring happiness to your hearts," Leslie Bell Redman of Columbus said, referring to her father, "Boots" Bell, who, before his radio career, had served in the Korean War.

After his storied career at 1330 WHOT-AM radio -- during part of which he was a member of a group of disc jockeys known as "The Good Guys" and often appeared at Idora Park during WHOT Day events -- Bell taught broadcasting and advertising courses at YSU that became popular to the extent that students not enrolled in the classes often listened from the hallway.

SIMEON BOOKER, MARK NIQUETTE

Before thrusting himself into covering the Civil Rights Era, Booker served as sports editor for the Buckeye Review while in high school, then reported for the Baltimore Afro American and the Cleveland Call and Post before The Washington Post hired him as its first black reporter. He also was a syndicated radio commentator for Westinghouse Broadcasting.

In 2013, Booker published his book, "Shocking the Conscience: A Reporter's Account of the Civil Rights Movement," after having spent more than 50 years as Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent for Jet and Ebony magazines.

Each year during Nonviolence Week, which starts the first Sunday of October, the Simeon Booker Award for Courage is distributed to those who exude courage and adhere to the six principles of nonviolence.

Booker died in 2017. He was 99.

During his remarks, Niquette recalled as one of his first Vindicator assignments covering the Aug. 19, 1991, gangland-style killing of reputed Pittsburgh mob boss Joseph N. "Joey" Naples near the home he was having built in Beaver Township. The shooter or shooters hid in a cornfield across the street. The case has never been solved.

Soon after, he became The Vindicator's politics writer and covered investigations into numerous public corruption and organized crime cases, including the fall of former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., who was indicted May 4, 2001, on federal corruption charges and served eight years in prison after having been expelled from Congress.

DAN O'BRIEN

Traficant also was instrumental in the start of O'Brien's career at the Business Journal. The Ursuline High School graduate's first job was as resident political cartoonist -- with the nine-term congressman as the subject -- before 1998, when he became a full-time staff reporter for the publication.

Others who received awards from the YPC were:

* David Skolnick, The Vindicator's politics staff writer for 38 years -- 31 years at The Vindicator and the last seven at The Vindicator/Tribune Chronicle -- who was the recipient of the First Amendment Award for his longtime advocacy regarding freedom of the press and the public's right to know.

* Chad Krispinsky, WKBN-TV 27 sports reporter and anchor, who received the Excellence in Media Award.

* Lori Factor, the press club's past president, who received the Medal of Merit, which is given to someone who has made a significant contribution to the YPC.

"The press is constantly under siege," Skolnick said, adding that it often has become more difficult to access open records and freedom of information requests for reporters, some of whom face harassment and frivolous lawsuits.

During his presentation, Skolnick also quoted the 45 words of the First Amendment that apply to freedom of the press, saying that a free press plays a vital role in a healthy democracy via serving as a watchdog over government officials and actions.

Ensuring the public's right to know is neither compromised nor infringed is the most important aspect of his work, Skolnick continued.

Krispinsky said that the popularity and value of local sports extends beyond mere scores; they also go a long way toward reflecting this area's culture, pride, family values and sense of community.

BOB YOSAY

Also grateful for his entry into the YPC's Hall of Fame was an emotional Yosay, who showed a video collage of several prize photographs he's snapped over his 43-year career with The Vindicator. They included one of President Joe Biden holding a child, a dog jumping into a body of water just before impact, a shot of former Pittsburgh Pirates manager Chuck Tanner and a police officer after having just been struck by a vehicle.

In addition, the press club awarded $16,000 in scholarships to four area students -- $4,000 each to Joslyn DelSignore of Struthers, Omar Frazier of Youngstown, Kaitlin Hogg of New Middletown and Maggie McGlone of Boardman.

DelSignore, a Youngstown State University journalism major, serves as a news multimedia journalist with The Jambar, the student newspaper.

Frazier, affectionately known as "Bomar," is a multimedia communications student at YSU whose focuses are on videography, photography and video editing and storytelling.

Hogg is a third-year student at Ohio University in Athens who is majoring in journalism, news and information at the Scripps College of Communication, with a minor in political science.

McGlone, a 2023 Cardinal Mooney High School graduate, is entering her senior year at Capital University in Columbus, where she is studying film, media production and marketing. In addition, she is the granddaughter of Pete Gabriel, a longtime WKBN broadcaster and operations manager who also is a YPC Hall of Fame inductee.

Also, Saturday will mark the 100th anniversary of when WKBN-AM radio signed on the air Sept. 26, 1926.