Journalists honored at Hall of Fame dinner
Saturday night’s Journalism Hall of Fame didn’t just honor the four individual inductees.
It also honored an entire year’s staff of Central Michigan Life.
About 150 people attended the fifth annual Journalism Hall of Fame Induction Banquet Saturday at The Embers, 1217 S. Mission St.
Associate journalism professor and former CM Life adviser Jim Wojcik gave a short video presentation, outlining some highlights of the 1976 CM Life staff.
This year is the 30th anniversary of CM Life’s second Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker award, which the 1976 staff received. The award is the highest national honor a college newspaper can receive.
Jim Hough, a Lansing State Journal columnist, spoke on behalf of the late Norris Ingells, a 1955 graduate and the first inductee of the night.
Honored
Department of Journalism 2006 Hall of Fame inductees
Norris Ingells: CMU class of 1955, editor of Mount Pleasant Daily-Times
from 1958 to 1964, photographer and reporter for Lansing State Journal
from 1964 to 1995.
Sarah Opperman: CMU class of 1981, current vice president of public
affairs for Dow Chemical Co., former editor of Central Michigan Life.
Michael Petrick: CMU journalism faculty from 1978 to 2000, former
chairman of the journalism department, former copy editor for the
Evening Star in Washington, D.C.
Lem Tucker: CMU class of 1960, first black CMU student body president,
broadcaster with NBC, ABC and CBS.
“He was more recognizable on campus than the president himself,” Hough said.
Ingells was an incredible photographer who won many awards for pictures he had taken throughout his career at CMU and the other newspapers, Hough said.
Ingell’s wife and daughter accepted Norris’ award.
Sarah Opperman, a 1981 graduate, was the second inductee of the night. Opperman spoke to the crowd about what is important about being a journalist, stressing deadline importance.
Also inducted was former journalism department chair Michael Petrick, introduced by Ken McDonald of the journalism department.
Fred M. Mester, 6th Judicial Circuit Court judge, honored the late Lem Tucker, the fourth and final inductee of the year.
Tucker was the second black student body president at an institute of higher learning, Mester said.
Mester said Tucker was influential in helping minority students in the journalism field.
“He opened doors to those to whom doors were previously shut,” Mester said.
