Headline Hall of Fame

Those are fantastic.

 

One of my favorites happened in Rhode Island when I was living there. The sports editor of a small paper, after several days of rain wiped out high school sports, wrote a feature about the local school's girls track team. He ran a six-column team photo with the following banner headline: "Lady Wizards are hot"

 

Someone got fired for that chick headline, right?

 

Blue font?

Her name is Chick. Why would the headline writer get fired?

 

Sorry--missed that her name was Chick. Thought it was a purposeful attempt at humor gone wrong.

 

No biggie. I went to see if her name was Chick just for that reason.

 

One night, on deadline, I hurriedly put together a NHL roundup, read the lede on the Capitals gamer and put in my headline: "Semin slips one in."
Luckily, the other desk guy caught it.

 

Famous story from the Oakland Tribune when it was an afternoon paper. Longtime Cal football coach Nibs Price died on a Saturday morning. The desk had minutes to slap together a quick story. One guy got a photo, one guy wrote the hed, another the obit. None knew what the other was doing, so in the paper that day there was a photo of the coach on the phone under the headline, "Death Calls Nibs Price."

NIBS, NO, DON'T ANSWER IT!!!

 

I still stand my favorite from an AJC 1A refer: "Man behind Hooters dies at 69"

 

I know that story. Know it well. Know the prep/copy editor, too.
Not only was Price on the phone, his feet were on the desk.

 

I first heard that one 25 years ago, cracked me up then, cracks me up now. It rates high in my personal newspaper reminiscence file.

Here's another high on my list.

Pasadena SE covers a Dodgers-Expos game on a Sunday afternoon. He has dinner plans and tells the desk to leave him an 18-inch hole across the top of the cover, finish up everything else and they can go. He will come in late and take care of the story and headline, etc.
In the game, there's a fight. Benches clear. Tommy Lasorda and Dick Williams are jawing at each other near the plate.
Afterward, the writers ask Lasorda if he and Williams ever fought when they were players in the minors. Lasorda said that in 1952 he kicked Williams' butt in a fight and he could do it again now.
So Pasadena goes to press with the banner headline:

LASORDA: I COULD LICK DICK IN '52 AND I STILL CAN

 

Marines up
local nurse


A paper I worked for actually ran that one (before I got there).