Effusive praise by former Gov. Roy Barnes highlighted the Thursday night induction of the late journalist Dick Pettys into the Hall of Fame of the Atlanta Press Club. The longtime Associated Press reporter (35 years) and, after that, InsiderAdvantage editor (2005-2010) was a familiar face at the Georgia Capitol and was known as the “dean” of the press corps there. Other inductees were Charlayne Hunter-Gault, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and one of two students who integrated the University of Georgia; Hank Klibanoff, author and former Atlanta Journal-Constitution managing editor; and Dennis O’Hayer, current co-host of “A Closer Look” on 90.1 WABE and a veteran Atlanta radio and television reporter.
Born in Atlanta in 1945, Pettys began covering state politics at the age of 24. Barnes recounted that his news articles so aggravated then-Gov. Lester Maddox that he once denounced Pettys as a “long-haired devil.” He continued to hold accountable, in a “fair and balanced way,” every other governor and government official ever since then, Barnes recounted in his tribute.
After his death at age 66 in 2012, the state Capitol’s press gallery and the Capitol Media Center were named in Pettys’ honor. A huge booster of the Boy Scouts of America, having served as a Cubmaster and Scoutmaster, Pettys was awarded the coveted Silver Beaver Award in 1984 by the Atlanta Area Boy Scout Council. It is Scouting’s highest award.
“It was our honor to have Dick as our editor in his final and arguably some of his most productive years,” said InsiderAdvantage founder and Chairman Matt Towery. “We hold his family as part of our family, and we miss him greatly.”
