The Journal

Issue date: 11/10/05 Section: LifeStyle

Media Credit: Michelle Oyola Fifth grader Maggie Haberberger of Union admires the new Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame in Washington, Mo. Haberberger felt the image of the firefighter and baby Jessica was sad, but still a good photograph.

Jack Zehrt's career has taken him to every state except North Dakota. This Wildwood photographer traveled to Washington, Mo., Oct. 20 to join seven other photojournalists as the first inductees into the Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame.

Zehrt, 83, photographed the Constitution in the National Archives, baseball greats such as Nolan Ryan and Jackie Robinson and Phil the Gorilla at the St. Louis Zoo. His photograph of the White House hung in the East Wing for years. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) purchased his work in astrophotography.

"I wasn't too keen on the idea to begin with," Zehrt said of his nomination to the hall of fame. "But then I got to thinking, I have over 100 framed photographs all over the house. They're not doing any good here, so now they'll be there."

Zehrt learned of his nomination from Bill Miller, Sr., the publisher and editor of The Washington Missourian, and Doug Crews, the executive director of the Missouri Press Association (MPA). Miller began the project for a photojournalism hall of fame two years ago.

"I thought for years we should do something to honor photojournalists," Miller said. "The MPA has a hall of fame for journalists, but photojournalists were not getting the recognition deserved to them."

Miller started the project by getting endorsements to establish the hall of fame in Washington. He won the support of the Washington Chamber of Commerce, downtown Washington, Inc., Washington's Core Restructuring Committee, the regional office of the Associated Press, the Missouri Press Foundation (MPF), the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the MPA. Representatives from most of these groups served on a committee with Miller that oversaw the project's development. Crews said his own involvement in the project included watching Miller.

"Bill Miller has been the driving force," Crews said. "He approached the MPA and MPF with the idea to start this and it just took off. He's seen it through and I can't say enough about him. We're just playing the support role in getting it off the ground."

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