Sharper Edge Promised for 1999
Gridiron Show
"We've been accused of getting a bit soft in our old
age. We're 67 now, but that will changed in the 1999 show," promised Tom
Campbell, chairman and coordinating author of the Tulsa Press Club Gridiron.
"We'll hone in with a sharper edge than we have in a long
time," Tom explains.
 Prime targets will include President
Clinton and Monica, Sheriff Stanley Glanz, Sen. Don Nickles and Jim Inhofe,
Commercial Financial Services and the apologists for cock fighting.
The Gridiron show is set for Friday, March 19, and Saturday, March
20, at the Assembly Hall of the Tulsa Convention center.
A highlight of the banquet presentation will be the
honoring of Rep. Betty Boyd as the 1999 Roasting Ear honoree, Karen Keith again will be
interlocutor, helping the audience make sense of things, and David Averill will be emcee
Director Vic Bastien says that a particularly fine cast has been
assembled, including Jeff Buckley, Kelly Thayer, Heather Richetto, Max Fisher, D.J. Morrow
and John Shaffer.
The Gridiron also has established endowments at the University of
Tulsa and the University of Oklahoma, respectively, to honor Phil Dessauer and Julie
Blakely. Phil was the longtime Gridiron chairman and former managing editor of the
Tulsa World. Julie was Tulsa World society editor for many years.
By RIK ESPINOSA World Staff
Writer
3/7/99
State Rep. Betty Boyd, D-Tulsa, has been named the recipient of
the Tulsa Press Club Gridiron's Roasting Ear Award.
The pioneer Tulsa broadcaster will be presented with the Roasting
Ear, a gilded corn cob, at the 67th annual Gridiron.
"I'm probably getting it because I'm the corniest person
around, I don't know," Boyd said.
The award goes to a figure who has been in the news, but Boyd said
she does not think of herself as newsworthy.
"I just love Tulsa and always have and always will so I'm
flattered about it. Anyone that gets noticed by the people they love and live around is
flattered (when they are recognized)," Boyd said.
She was a television personality for more than 25 years with both
KOTV-TV Channel 6 and KTUL- TV, Channel 8.
Boyd now works in free-lance commercial production.
Boyd was elected to the state Legislature in 1990 representing
District 23 in east Tulsa County. She is the chairwoman of the House Community and Family
Responsibilities Committee.
Boyd was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in 1996
and has been given the lifetime achievement award from both Women in Communications and
American Women in Radio and Television.
Boyd was crowned queen of the Tulsa Centennial Homecoming Weekend
Sept. 9, 1997.
The Gridiron, which is a musical spoof of politics, politicians
and current events, will take place March 19 and 20.
This year's show is titled, "High Crimes and Miss Demeanors
or Sheriff, Someone Done Took the Jail."
Tickets for the March 19 show are $10 and tickets to the March 20
banquet show, where Boyd will be presented with the award, are $75.
For ticket information call, Tom Campbell at 744-6434.
Danna Sue Walker: Tulsa Press Club
trust honors `Mr. Gridiron' with scholarship
By World's own Service
12/16/98
 From left, Tom Horne, Diane Dessauer, Virginia
Dessauer and Tom Campbell visit during a luncheon celebrating the establishment of a
Unviersity of Tulsa scholarship fund in honor of the late Phil Dessauer.
The Tulsa Press Club Gridiron Educational and Charitable Trust
Fund has established a scholarship fund in honor of the late Phil Dessauer, a man known by
many Tulsans as "Mr. Gridiron."
Tom Horne, dean of TU's College of Arts and Sciences, accepted the
initial $10,000 contribution during a recent luncheon in the Satin Rare Book Room of TU's
McFarlin Library.
The Trust, which produces the Press Club's annual
"Gridiron" show and political spoof, will provide scholarships to students in
the university's department of communication.
"Phil Dessauer was a great supporter of student
journalists," said John Coward, chairman of TU's communication department. "Not
only did he teach classes and advise the student paper, he also raised thousands of
dollars for scholarships through his work with the Gridiron."
Dessauer, who died Dec. 12, 1997, at the age of 79, was involved
with the Tulsa Gridiron for more than 30 years as a founding trustee, chairman of the
trust, principal author and roastmaster.
During his more than 50 years in journalism and communications, he
was president of the Society of Professional Journalists, managing editor of the Tulsa
World and an editorial writer for the Tulsa Tribune.
He also taught journalism courses at TU and from 1981 to 1988 was
an adviser to the student newspaper, the Collegian. He was the third person inducted into
TU's Communication Hall of Fame.
Among those attending the luncheon were Dessauer's widow, Virginia
Dessauer; daughter-in-law, Dianne Dessaurer; Tom Campbell, chairman of the Tulsa Press
Club Gridiron Trust; and Dick Risk, treasurer and scholarship committee chairman.
By World's own Service
12/6/98
A scholarship fund in memory of longtime journalist Phil Dessauer
has been established at the University of Tulsa Department of Communication, through a
gift from the Tulsa Press Club Educational and Charitable Trust.
An initial contribution of $10,000 was presented Friday to TU
officials by Tom Campbell, chairman of the trust, which produces the Press Club's Gridiron
show.
Dessauer, who died a year ago, had a long career at the Tulsa
World. After leaving the World in 1981 he served as an adjunct journalism instructor at
TU.
Dessauer was best known to many Tulsans as "Mr.
Gridiron," serving for more than 25 years as chief author and master of ceremonies
for the annual musical spoof of politics, politicians and current events.
The initial gift to the Dessauer scholarship fund came from
contributions to the Educational and Charitable Trust and proceeds from the Gridiron show.
It was in addition to the yearly scholarships to journalism and communications students at
TU, Oklahoma State University, Tulsa Community College and Northeastern Oklahoma State
University and the trust's support for the Julie Blakely fund at the University of
Oklahoma.
Hall of Famer
By World's own Service
10/15/96
SOMETIMES IT'S NICE to be able to brag on one of our own.
Phil Dessauer, who left his mark on his city, his state and his fellow journalists
during an influential, 50-year career, is being inducted into the University of Tulsa
Communication Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
Dessauer, who began his journalism career with the Daily Oklahoman in 1945, worked for
the Tulsa World for more than 20 years, as a state Capitol correspondent, editorial
writer, associate editor and managing editor. For years he wrote two popular daily
features on the World's editorial page, "Only in Oklahoma" and "Punch
Lines," which demonstrated the conciseness and wit that marked his work.
In the late 1970s Dessauer was elected national president of the professional
journalism association, SPJ, and served on the Pulitzer Prize jury. He was chief author,
master of ceremonies and chairman of the governing trust of the Tulsa Press Club Gridiron,
the annual musical, satirical political roast.
He left the World to teach journalism classes at TU and serve as the faculty adviser to
the TU student newspaper, The Collegian, from 1981-1988.
He previously has been inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame and the
City-County Libraries Hall of Fame.
The TU Communication Hall of Fame was established in memory of the late Ed Johnson, a
longtime, beloved journalism professor. Phil Dessauer, professional journalist and
educator, is an outstanding selection. |