Dick Deeken – 2009
Dick Deeken worked as a news photographer at Channel 5 for 30 years. Known as one of the area’s runner and gunners, Dick would do what it took to get the shots and the story. Before he was hired, Deeken bought his own film camera and drove around the area at night after leaving his day job. He’d hang out with cops and firemen and get video, then sell his material to Channel 5 the following morning. This free-lance effort led to his hiring in 1965. He even survived a helicopter accident when it crashed into the Mississippi River as he was shooting video of a barge accident. He escaped from the wreckage by using his camera to smash through the helicopter’s bubble.