Halls of Fame

J. Roy Stockton – 2017

J. Roy Stockton gained a national reputation for his wit and writing when he produced a series of articles about baseball for the Saturday Evening Post. He joined the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1917 and retired 46 years later. He was promoted to Sports Editor in 1946. In 1932, Stockton was president of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Stockton travelled with baseball pros in a USO tour during World War II and was once seriously considered for the job of Major League Baseball Commissioner. In 1947, He appeared in the market’s first broadcast of a local baseball game on KSD-TV.

Jo Mannies – 2018

Jo Mannies’ career in journalism spanned three media: print, on-line and radio. She was the first female journalist to cover St. Louis City Hall and served as the Post’s second female sportswriter. Her future in local journalism was deeply rooted in coverage of politics. She was stationed at the paper’s Washington Bureau for four years and covered the political beat from 1990-2008. She joined the St. Louis Beacon’s online operation in the same capacity and then switched to reporting for KWMU Radio when the station acquired the Beacon. Her numerous professional awards included the Con Lee Kelliher Award and the National Press Club award for regional reporting.

Marguerite Martyn- 2018

Marguerite Martyn, a visual artist and reporter, was hired by the Post-Dispatch in 1905. She became revered for her articles, which contained her sketches, similar in style to editorial cartoons, of the people she interviewed. City Editor O.K. Bovard was usually agreeable to her suggestions about stories or people she wanted to cover, though it was uncommon to grant a woman that much influence at the time. One of the many subjects that gained her favor among female readers was coverage of the Suffrage Movement. It was said that she initially took no notes during the interviews, spending the time sketching her subjects. For many years she submitted her stories written in longhand. She retired from the paper in 1939.

Victor “Vic Vac” Vaccarezza – 2015

Victor “Vic Vac” Vacarezza began his career in art and cartooning while still a student at Washington University working part time at the St. Louis Republic. One of his first duties was providing sketches of murder victims, which required him to work at the city morgue. A stint in the Navy in WWI provided his first real break, as he did a regular strip for the newspaper at Great Lakes Training Station titled “Salty Steve.” When Vaccarezza returned to St. Louis, his former newspaper had been absorbed by the Globe-Democrat, so he went to work for the Globe, beginning a 50-year career there.

At the Globe, he rose to the position of chief art director, retiring at age 76. He produced a Sunday comic strip, “Shanty Lane,” drew thumbnail sketches that graced the white space between letters on the paper’s “Mail Bag” page, and created the chaotic cartoon art for which he became famous that graced the paper’s Sunday magazine covers. He also drew a nationally syndicated strip, “June Bride,” for four years beginning in 1946. Vic Vac, as he signed his work, confessed to an interviewer that the strip’s title character was modeled after his wife Rose.

Avis Meyer – 2018

Much can be said about Avis Meyer. Most of it is true. For 24 years he worked at the Post-Dispatch as a copy editor and occasional feature and travel writer, for which he won an AP Headline Award and P-D Writing Award. But his biggest journalistic contribution came at Saint Louis University, where he taught journalism-related courses for 42 years, turning out scores of successful journalists. He also served for 42 years as faculty advisor to the student paper “The U. News,” for which he received many awards. Avis was recipient of the Charles Klotzer Media Literacy Award and a major scholarship at the university is named in his honor. 

Jeff Leen – 2015

Jeff Leen began working as the investigations editor of The Washington Post in 2003 after having joined the Post’s Investigative Unit as a reporter in 1997. The next year, he was the lead reporter on an investigation of D.C. police shootings that won the 1999 Pulitzer Gold Medal for Meritorious Public Service, the paper’s first since Watergate. Leen worked as a reporter or an editor on investigations that were honored with seven Pulitzer Prizes. His individual honors include the Missouri Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism. Jeff graduated from Ritenour Senior High School in suburban St. Louis in 1975, and his first job in journalism was at the St. Louis County Star. Prior to joining the Post, he worked for 10 years on the investigative team for the Miami Herald.