CHICAGO / MIDWEST
Honorees
2018
Mike Adamle
Mike Adamle is a former NFL running back, television broadcaster, Ironman athlete and – most importantly – a loving father and husband. His love for football stemmed from his father’s accomplishments. In the 1940’s, Tony Adamle was an All-Pro Linebacker and two-time NFL champion with the Cleveland Browns. Inspired by the drive and determination of his father, Adamle started playing football at age 15. His high school football successes were impressive enough for Mike to earn a full scholarship to Northwestern University where he was team captain, All-American fullback and Big Ten MVP in his senior season. He is considered one of the Wildcats’ all-time greats and can still claim four school rushing records. Adamle was a fourth-round draft choice of the Kansas City Chiefs and then played for the New York Jets. He returned to his college hometown to play for the Chicago Bears where he was the starting running back before a guy named Walter Payton was drafted. Upon retiring from the NFL, he worked for NBC Sports from 1977-83 where he hosted SportsWorld, co-hosted the network’s NFL pre-game show and handled a variety of assignments, including covering three Super Bowls. In 1984, Adamle joined ABC7 in Chicago as a sports anchor/reporter and also worked for the network as a sideline reporter for the USFL. Starting in 1989, he worked full-time on the network level of ABC Sports handling Wide World of Sports assignments and hosting the cult-phenomenon American Gladiators television show until 1996. That same year, Adamle joined ESPN’s broadcast team as a college football sideline reporter and studio analyst. He also hosted the X Games and Destination Extreme, along with the network’s Pro Beach Volleyball and World Special Olympics coverage. In 1998, he became a Chicago sports anchor, spending the remainder of his broadcast career at NBC5 and CBS2. Epilepsy has not stopped Adamle from competing in various marathons and triathlons. He has competed in five Ironman competitions including Kona. Upon his retirement from NBC5, he went public with his diagnosis of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) from his many years on the football field. He and his wife, Kim, have launched an awareness and support group called “Rise Above: The Mike Adamle Project.”
Chuck Davidson
Chuck Davidson was born on the north side of Chicago in 1943 and attended St. Henry Grade School before moving to DeWitt, Iowa in 1953. He finished grade school and high school there at St. Joseph before attending the University of Iowa. He gained on-air radio news experience at campus station WSUI and graduated with a BA in radio-TV journalism. Hired out of college by WOI-AM-FM-TV in Ames/Des Moines, Iowa, Davidson anchored sign-on radio news while learning film camera work and editing on the TV side. He married Charlette Hess and moved to WJIM-TV in Lansing, Michigan as a full-time cameraman in 1966. He covered the increasing campus protests against the Viet Nam war and civil rights inequality. Davidson worked mostly in news with occasional forays into sports, including the football classic between Michigan State and Notre Dame, the "Game of the Century" that ended in a 10-10 tie. Chuck’s next stop was Detroit’s WJBK-TV in 1968, the year of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy assassinations. He covered that tumultuous era and extensive unrest on college campuses but gradually continued his migration to sports coverage. He was on the front camera lines for two Detroit Tiger World Series championships and Michigan State's 1979 NCAA basketball Final Four victory. Additionally, he covered University of Michigan football during the Bo Schembechler years, featuring several post-season bowl appearances. He joined WLS-TV in 1985, moving to WBBM-TV a year later. He specialized in sports coverage, concentrating on Bears football and Bulls basketball. He had many memorable experiences involving the likes of Mike Ditka and Michael Jordan. He worked all six Bulls NBA championships in the 1990s and all three Blackhawks' Stanley Cup wins. A highly knowledgeable sports fan, he always got the great plays and crucial winning shots and through the years build relationships with key sports figures. Davidson retired from WBBM in 2015 after 50 years in television. He was honored at Soldier Field by being presented a ‘Number 50’ Bears jersey in recognition of his half-century in broadcast journalism. Happily married to Charlette, they have two grown children (Joan and John) and five grandchildren.
Bill Frink
There was never much doubt about what Bill Frink would be when he grew up. He was raised in Elkhart, Indiana, where his father was managing editor of the Elkhart Truth. He went to work as a sports announcer at local radio station WTRC while still in high school. He also met his future wife, Willa, while in high school, but marriage would have to wait until after a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy. Frink broadcast sports while stationed in Guam, and then returned home where he spent four years at Northwestern University on the G.I. Bill, and married his high school sweetheart. The couple bounced around the Midwest for much of the 50s and 60s, landing sports gigs in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. In 1963, Frink made it to Chicago, watching information come across a ticker tape at WCFL Radio and using that information for play-by-play “baseball recreations.” Frink landed at WLS-TV in the mid-60s, and was teamed with Fahey Flynn, Joel Daley and John Coleman to form the Eyewitness News Team. They established a highly successful and widely copied news format often called “happy talk.” Frink was a good fit, known for his knowledge of sports but also for his sense of humor. Daly thought highly of Frink, saying: “He knew sports. He covered it personally. He was just a regular guy. I think that was part of his charm.” Frink left WLS in 1979 and went cross-town to WGN radio and television. He had a great run on The Nine O’Clock News, being teamed with the likes of John Drury, Len O’Connor, Tom Skilling and Denise Cannon. He retired from WGN in 1984 but remained active is sports reporting doing both talk shows and play-by-play on several cable stations. In retirement, Frink volunteered at the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, something that grew out of his family’s respect for Native Americans. Bill and Willa had two daughters, Nancy and Edith, and four grandchildren. Bill leaves behind a legacy of a man who loved sports from all angles --- the game, the player and the fan.
Chuck Goudie
Chuck Goudie's reputation for being one of Chicago's toughest investigative reporters spans more than three decades. He joined ABC 7 in 1980 as a general assignment reporter and has been the chief investigative reporter for ABC 7 Eyewitness News since 1990, often breaking major news stories. Goudie's compelling reports get results. It was Goudie who first exposed the "Licenses-for-Bribes" investigation, revealing Illinois commercial drivers' licenses being sold to hundreds of unqualified truckers. His groundbreaking investigation prompted the FBI to go undercover, leading to dozens of federal corruption convictions all the way up to former Governor George Ryan. His six-month investigation documenting misconduct, accidents and negligence by top members of the Illinois State Police unit that guarded then-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich resulted in the governor ordering a thorough state police overhaul. His investigation of sexual abuse allegations against the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin resulted in the cardinal's accuser withdrawing charges. Other important investigations have shut down illegal businesses and shady charities, changed or created laws and resulted in criminal charges and incarceration. Goudie has won many of broadcasting's top honors, including a national News Emmy® Award for exposing how government agencies and chemical companies were unprotected against a deadly terrorist attack. Goudie is recipient of a national Edward R. Murrow Award for Continuous Television News Reporting. He has also received numerous Chicago/Midwest Emmy® Awards, Associated Press and Peter Lisagor Awards along with Herman Kogan awards from the Chicago Bar Association. Previously, Goudie worked at WSOC-TV in Charlotte, N.C. but his interest in television began far earlier. He gained television experience at the age of 12, when he won a regular role on two weekly children's shows on WXYZ-TV in Detroit. A member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Goudie is a regular speaker at their international conference. He has been named Chicago/Midwest Father of the Year by the Father of the Year Council. Born in suburban Detroit, Goudie holds a B.A. degree in Telecommunications and Political Science from Michigan State University. He is married to Teri Goudie, a former ABC 7 news producer and now an international media consultant and crisis trainer. They have five children and two grandchildren.
Newton Minow
Newton N. Minow is Senior Counsel to the law firm of Sidley Austin LLP where he was a managing partner for many years. Minow was born and raised in Milwaukee and served as a U.S. Army Sergeant in the China-Burma India Theater in World War II. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, and he has been awarded 14 honorary degrees, including Brandeis University, the University of Wisconsin, Northwestern University and the University of Notre Dame. His career includes service as Law Clerk to Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson of the U.S. Supreme Court and as Assistant Counsel to Governor Adlai E. Stevenson. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed him Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission where he championed television’s public interest standard, the expansion of TV to UHF channels and the vital importance of communications satellites in their infancy. After the FCC, he became Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. In 1965, he joined the law firm of Leibman, Williams, Bennett, Baird & Minow, which merged with Sidley & Austin in 1972. Minow has been a director of many companies including Aon Corporation, CBS, Sara Lee Corporation, Foote, Cone & Belding, Manpower Inc. and the Tribune Company. In addition, he is former chairman of The RAND Corporation, trustee emeritus of the Mayo Clinic, a life trustee of Northwestern University and the University of Notre Dame, a former trustee and chairman of the Carnegie Foundation. He also serves as Vice Chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates. Additionally, he has written five books and numerous magazine articles. As a founder and later Chairman of PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and a former chairman of WTTW in Chicago, his decades-long impact on public broadcasting – both nationally and locally – is beyond measure. In 2016, President Barack Obama presented him with our nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Minow and his wife, Josephine (Jo), live in Chicago. They have three daughters, Nell, Martha and Mary.
Terry Savage
Terry Savage is known as “The Moneylady” – a nickname that reflects her wide reach as a television commentator, newspaper columnist, and best-selling author on the subject of the markets and personal financial planning. Her audience trusts her Savage Truths on money and her approachable style. Savage’s expertise comes from experience as a stockbroker and a founding member and the first woman trader on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Her TV career began on Chicago’s WCIU-TV where she appeared as a guest expert and soon became a daily host of The Stock Market Observer. In 1979, she moved to WMAQ-TV where she built a following by explaining stock market moves and showing viewers how to earn the highest interest rates on their savings. After three years, Terry moved to WBBM-TV, continuing her daily segments, and hosting an interview show, Terry Savage Talks Money. Over the years, Terry became a regular commentator on programs as diverse as CNBC, CNN, and even Oprah – explaining money strategies. In 1989, she started her Chicago Sun-Times syndicated column, The Savage Truth. It continues today, with national distribution by Tribune Content Agency, and appears in the Chicago Tribune on Mondays. She is the author of four best-selling books on personal finance, including: The Savage Truth on Money and The Savage Number: How Much Do You Really Need to Retire? Currently, Savage appears on the WGN Morning News on Wednesdays and weekly on the WGN-Radio Noon Business Lunch with Steve Bertrand. At her website, Savage writes a blog dedicated to answering readers’ questions on a wide variety of financial topics, posts her columns and includes links to financial resources. She remains deeply involved with the Chicago business community, and serves on the Board of Directors of CME Group, Inc., the world’s largest futures exchange. She hosts an annual economic forecast luncheon for the Executives Club of Chicago, and is a member of The Chicago Network. She was a founder of the Federal Reserve’s Money Smart Week, and one of the first women inducted into Rotary.
Frazier Thomas
William Frazier Thomas (June 13, 1918 – April 3, 1985) was a Chicago television personality. Although Thomas wrote nine children's books, he was best known for creating, hosting, writing and producing the long-running children's television program Garfield Goose and Friends on WGN-TV. Thomas began performing as a magician at age 12 in his home town of Rushville; he was just a teenager when he wrote a book about magic. As "Thomas the Magician and Company" he performed "the Mystic Revue, a full evening of magic, mirth, music and mystery" throughout the US. By 1935, he was writing a weekly syndicated newspaper column for children about magic, at first as "Thomas the Magician" and later as Frazier Thomas. The tips and tricks Thomas covered in his column were simple enough for young readers to perform successfully. His column appeared in newspapers from 1935 to 1940. Thomas was a member of the Society of American Magicians and attended their national conferences. By 1936, Thomas had an additional interest: radio; he became the host of a summer replacement show about movies for Cincinnati radio station WLW. A year later, he interviewed Edgar Bergen and became interested enough in ventriloquilism and dummies to visit the Chicago workshop of the man who produced Charlie McCarthy.
He continued working at WLW, writing and creating his own shows. In 1949, he announced he would leave Morning Matinee to establish his own radio and television production firm. He married Ann Deeds, a commercial artist for WLW-TV, and together the couple hosted one of the station's first television shows: Shopper's Special. Thomas then moved to Cincinnati's WKRC-TV, where he hosted his first children's program, Meet the Little People. In 1950, Frazier and Anne Thomas were among the top local television personalities in Cincinnati. Garfield Goose made his first television appearance in Cincinnati.
In 1951, Thomas was hired by Chicago's WBKB-TV (now WBBM-TV) for an afternoon variety show initially called The Frazier Thomas Show. He also put in some time as the host of an evening music program, Musical Nite-cap. Thomas' afternoon show was renamed Petticoat Party; his announcer for it was Ray Rayner. One year later, in 1955, the pair found their permanent television home at WGN-TV, where they would be joined by the other characters, making it Garfield Goose and Friends.
The Chicago chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences did not begin awarding local Emmys until 1958; Thomas was the first winner of the award for Male Best Children's Performer, and won the award again in 1964 for his work with Garfield Goose and Friends and Family Classics.
Frazier and Garfield join Bozo's Circus in 1976.
By the 1970s the way Chicago children watched television had changed, and Garfield Goose and Friends moved to mornings on WGN. When Ned Locke, ringmaster of Bozo's Circus retired in 1976, Thomas was asked to become his replacement. This meant that the show would combine with Bozo's Circus; Garfield Goose and Friends last aired on September 10, 1976. Frazier's friends were off the air permanently on January 26, 1981, after changes to the Bozo program. He continued to work on the show as the circus manager and to host Family Classics.
From Wikipedia -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frazier_Thomas
Robert Trendler
Hundreds of thousands of kids (and adults) grew up listening to Robert “Bob” Trendler and his Big Top Band. When WGN-TV’s Bozo’s Circus went on the air in 1961, Trendler was tapped to lead the 13-piece orchestra, which he did with a showman’s flair until his retirement in 1975. More than a bandleader, Trendler was an integral part of the program, and his music often provided lively accompaniment to the raucous gags perpetrated by Bozo and his clown friends. But Bozo wasn’t Trendler’s introduction to WGN audiences. Trendler began work at WGN Radio in 1935 as a freelance arranger and musician. It was the heyday of live music on radio, and by 1941, Trendler was WGN’s Choral Director as well as leader of the WGN Dance Band. He made the transition to WGN-TV when the station went on the air in 1948. On WGN-TV, Trendler worked with musical greats like Sammy Davis Jr., Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett and many more. He performed on nationally syndicated shows seen around the country, including Great Music from Chicago, playing with artists like André Previn and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Born in Cincinnati, the only child of European immigrants, Trendler began playing piano at age 6. He first performed musically with his mother, Kathryn, an operatic soprano, at age 11 on WLW radio in his hometown. Kathryn worked at the station, and that may be where he first got the broadcasting bug. The young Trendler was more interested in jazz than classical music, and moved to New York City, eventually getting to work with legends like George Gershwin, Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. He came to Chicago for a piano-playing job at the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair before hooking up with WGN. Trendler met his wife Annette at Chicago’s LaSalle Hotel. She was performing in a vocal trio with pop star Rudy Vallée. Trendler and his wife raised their two children in suburban Lake Forest. Trendler died in 2011 at age 99.
Jim Williams
Jim Williams began his broadcasting career as a news film librarian at WGN Television in 1977. Two years later, he joined WGN Radio as a news writer, and after a year on the overnight shift, wrote newscasts for the Wally Phillips and Bob Collins shows. In 1982, he returned to the television side of the newsroom as a writer, weekend producer of The Nine O’Clock News and Sunday night sportscast producer.
In 1986, Williams wrote, co-produced and hosted the public affairs program Chicago Profiles. His first appearance on television earned him a Chicago/Midwest Emmy® nomination for Individual Excellence on Camera. Later that year, in addition to his other duties at the station, he began reporting on weekends. In 1988, Williams became a full-time reporter at Channel 9, primarily covering local politics.
Williams became Richard M. Daley’s mayoral press secretary in 1992, although he initially turned down the job because he was reluctant to leave journalism. He wound up having one of the longest tenures as press secretary in the city’s history. City Hall reporters praised Williams for fostering a positive working relationship between the media and the Daley Administration.
In 1997, Williams returned to broadcast journalism as a network correspondent for ABC News. For World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and Good Morning America, he covered a broad range of stories across the country, from wildfires to hurricanes, from raging floods to the hunt for fugitive bomber Eric Rudolph. In China, Williams reported on the government’s crackdown on the spiritual group Falun Gong.
Since 2002, Williams has been a reporter for CBS 2 Chicago. He also anchors the station’s Sunday evening newscasts. His documentary series Stories 2 Tell debuts this year.
Jim Williams was born and raised on Chicago’s south side. His father was a Chicago police lieutenant; his mother a special education teacher. He is a graduate of Kenwood Academy and Columbia College Chicago. He has won numerous awards, including an Emmy® Award for investigative reporting. Williams is a longtime board member of the Mercy Home for Boys and Girls. He and his wife Joyce have four adult children.