AP's Bob Daugherty to be inducted into Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame
Associated Press photographer Bob Daugherty will be part of a select group of seven journalists who will be inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame on October 24, 2015. Bob Daugherty began his career in photojournalism at the Marion (lnd.) Chronicle Tribune at the age of 15. Even then he wasn't an occasional, submit-a-photo-when-the-mood-strikes-you photographer. At that young age, Daugherty was quickly hired as a staffer, and by 22 he was a staff photographer at the state's largest newspaper, The Indianapolis Star.
AP Senior Photo Editor Brian Horton says aspiring Indiana photojournalists grew up sharing legendary Bob Daugherty stories. One example involved a major spot news event shortly after Daugherty joined AP's Indianapolis bureau in 1963: A gas tank exploded at a concession stand in the Fairgrounds Coliseum, killing more than 70 spectators.
Daugherty was at the site before the fire department. He shot some 24 frames on a single roll of film, then left immediately to file his photos. Back at the Indianapolis bureau, the photo monitor in New York anxiously called Daugherty on the photo network, expecting little more than a file photo of the Coliseum. Daugherty quickly replied that he would be ready to transmit first spot photos within five minutes, and with that, New York turned the network over to him. Daugherty proceeded to move 14 photos back-to-back, and eventually moved all but about two of the frames from that single roll.
When President Jimmy Carter visited Bardstown, Ky., in 1979, Daugherty demonstrated the judgment and news sense to make an important set of photos: In Carter's first public appearance since the Iran hostage debacle, Daugherty gambled on staying with Carter during a routine motorcade through town, while the other media drove ahead to the school auditorium where Carter would speak.
When New York editors saw the first photo they asked for more, and Daugherty's photos swept the next day's front pages, and some papers even credited Daugherty by name, at a time when that was virtually unheard of for a wire photo.
During his 43-year career with the AP, Daugherty covered the Watergate hearings, Nixon in China, the Paris peace talks with Kissinger, the Gulf War, and innumerable political conventions, inaugurations, World Series and Olympics.
The Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame website writes:
Bob Daugherty's distinctive photographs include one of Richard Nixon, arms and fingers raised in a “V” for victory as he boards a helicopter upon his resignation as president, and the first photo showing the winner of the Kentucky Derby by putting a camera beneath the rail at the finish line and triggering it remotely.
Below is a selection of Daugherty's work through the years.
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