Born in Iowa, Gardner was publisher of the Lovelock Review-Miner from 1931-1966. He later wrote a gardening column for the Nevada Appeal. A former school superintendent, he worked his way through Drake University using his stenographic and typing skills.

Delbert Williams began his newspaper career as a printer’s apprentice with the Genoa Courier. In 1884, Williams managed the Genoa Courier for his uncle, and under his leadership the paper prospered. He bought the Fallon Eagle in 1907 and over the next 30 years built it into one of the …

Ryan, a hard-nosed reporter and workhorse, began his long tenure as a capitol reporter with United Press International in the early 1960s. When UPI closed shop, the University of Nevada journalism graduate and capitol press corps legend became the Las Vegas Sun’s statehouse reporter.

A kid from the Comstock, Cobb become one of the West’s newspaper legends. He was sports editor of the Nevada State Journal in Reno from 1937 to 1958 and later became the newspaper’s managing editor. He continued to write a column after his retirement in 1975. Cobb labored tirelessly for …

Ed Vogel got his start in journalism as a teen in Michigan where a weekly newspaper paid him $1.50 a story to cover high-school sports. After graduating from the University of Michigan, he pursued his love of newspapers at jobs in New Mexico and Texas before joining the Las Vegas …

Guy Richardson started his career in 1963 as a linotype operator for the Nevada State Journal and the Reno Evening Gazette. He later became a wire editor and in 1975 the entertainment editor. During his nearly 30 years in the business, Guy became close friends with Sammy Davis Jr., Joan …

After launching the Mineral County Independent-News in the Depression, McCloskey punctuated pomposity, phoned governors with answers and publicly spanked other newspapers. His weekly column “Jasper” spanned more than six decades. Born in Goldfield and reared in Tonopah, he started in the business as a paperboy. After launching the Mineral County …

The popular two-term Nevada governor known for his no-nonsense style joined the Las Vegas Sun as executive editor and columnist after leaving public office. In addition to being named a Sun executive, the decorated veteran of the Korean War and former high school teacher also became publisher of the Henderson …

Smetana, whose 40-year journalism career included 21 at the Reno Gazette-Journal, was the kind of newsman who made things better — the stories he edited, the newspapers he worked for, the reporters he mentored. Born in 1943 in Melrose Park, Ill., Smetana was inducted into the U.S. Army in 1965 …