By Gail Parsons, for the Lincoln-Sentinel The Kansas Press Association has selected former Lincoln Sentinel editor Kathy Hageman for the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame. Hageman was the editor at the Sentinel from 1998 to 2000, has worked at several community newspaper, most recently in Abilene.
The induction ceremony is Nov. 2 at which time Hageman will take her place alongside notable Kansas journalists and industry leaders such as William Allen White and former ARC editor and publisher Vivien Sadowski. Normally, there are four or five inductees a year. This year, however, Hageman will be one of 32.
“The reason why there are 32 is because we had a committee of people go back and take a look at people who might have been overlooked due to gender or race,” said Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association. “They went back and looked at quite a number of women who were worthy of the Hall of Fame but were overlooked just due to the times.”
Of the 142 people inducted since the Hall of Fame started in 1931, only seven are women.
Hageman said when she learned of the honor, via phone call, it took a few moments for her to wrap her brain around the news. “I couldn’t really comprehend what (I was hearing) because I never thought that a regular reporter schmuck like me would be inducted into the Hall of Fame,” she said. “I have always had visions of the Hall of Fame being the titans of the industry — people who have made multiple strides, people like William Allen White, and Henry B. Jameson and Charles Harger.
Jameson and Harger were also Abilene Reflector- Chronicle journalists. Harger started working there in 1888 and was the first journalism teacher at the University of Kansas. He was posthumously inducted in 1958. Jameson went to work for Harger in 1948 and after Harger’s death in 1955 became editor and general manager and soon after publisher.
Hageman said she remembered meeting Jameson when she was a child and she still looks to his writings when she is researching anything to do with Abilene history. She has also worked for several other inductees including Sadowski; Dave Seaton, when she was at the Winfield Daily Courier; and Bill Meyer, who she worked for at the Marion Record.
Now she will take her place alongside those she respected, looked up to and was mentored by. It’s a recognition that Bradbury said, for Hageman and the others, reflects what they have done for their communities and newspaper industry.
“They have spent their life and their career working for the betterment of their community and the betterment of the industry, this brings a well-deserved recognition to all of the inductees,” Bradbury said.
For Hageman, the honor comes as she is slowing down in her career, which started unexpectedly 38 years ago.
Her start in journalism was not planned — if any The Kansas Press Association has selected former Lincoln Sentinel editor Kathy Hageman for the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame. Hageman was the editor at the Sentinel from 1998 to 2000, has worked at several community newspaper, most recently in Abilene.
The induction ceremony is Nov. 2 at which time Hageman will take her place alongside notable Kansas journalists and industry leaders such as William Allen White and former ARC editor and publisher Vivien Sadowski. Normally, there are four or five inductees a year. This year, however, Hageman will be one of 32.
“The reason why there are 32 is because we had a committee of people go back and take a look at people who might have been overlooked due to gender or race,” said Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association. “They went back and looked at quite a number of women who were worthy of the Hall of Fame but were overlooked just due to the times.”
Of the 142 people inducted since the Hall of Fame started in 1931, only seven are women.
Hageman said when she learned of the honor, via phone call, it took a few moments for her to wrap her brain around the news.
“I couldn’t really comprehend what (I was hearing) because I never thought that a regular reporter schmuck like me would be inducted into the Hall of Fame,” she said. “I have always had visions of the Hall of Fame being the titans of the industry — people who have made multiple strides, people like William Allen White, and Henry B. Jameson and Charles Harger.
Jameson and Harger were also Abilene Reflector- Chronicle journalists. Harger started working there in 1888 and was the first journalism teacher at the University of Kansas. He was posthumously inducted in 1958. Jameson went to work for Harger in 1948 and after Harger’s death in 1955 became editor and general manager and soon after publisher.
Hageman said she remembered meeting Jameson when she was a child and she still looks to his writings when she is researching anything to do with Abilene history. She has also worked for several other inductees including Sadowski; Dave Seaton, when she was at the Winfield Daily Courier; and Bill Meyer, who she worked for at the Marion Record.
Now she will take her place alongside those she respected, looked up to and was mentored by. It’s a recognition that Bradbury said, for Hageman and the others, reflects what they have done for their communities and newspaper industry.
“They have spent their life and their career working for the betterment of their community and the betterment of the industry, this brings a well-deserved recognition to all of the inductees,” Bradbury said.
For Hageman, the honor comes as she is slowing down in her career, which started unexpectedly 38 years ago.
Her start in journalism was not planned — if anything, she was reluctantly forced into it.
“I had been a high school teacher and that was an abject failure,” she said.
After realizing that teaching was not her cup of tea, Hageman returned home to Abilene, was living with her parents and found a job on the night shift at a convenience store — a job that she was content with.
“My parents and my brother Dale thought I was wasting a good education so they forced me to take a job at the Larned Tiller and Toiler as proofreader,” she said.
The owner, Chuck Walton, had previously worked at the Abilene Reflector-Chronicle.
“I went down there as a typesetter and proofreader and Dale was the production manager,” she said. “I learned to typeset on a bell typesetter machine. About a year into it two reporters left and I thought, ‘That doesn’t look too hard.’ The owner said, ‘Okay, if you think you can do it, go ahead.’ So, I did.”
Although journalism had never been in her plans, once she started, she knew she had found the road she wanted to stay on. She said she believes her passion for history is behind her love of journalism.
“I think being able to record the history of a community, or a person or a government entity — what is happening that will someday become history, is what I find very interesting,” she said. “When it comes to interviewing people, I really like to talk to them and tell their stories. I live vicariously through people – I don’t consider myself that interesting, I’m more of an observer.”
Her skill in putting her observations into words and staying true to journalistic ethics were noted in nomination and support letters submitted to the KPA. The selection committee that reviewed all the nominees and made the final selection were the KPA past presidents and Hall of Fame members.
