From NLGJA National Board Member Geoff Dankert

Geoff Dankert
WFLD Chicago
NLGJA National Board Member

A lot of our colleagues have memories of working side-by-side with Roy, either in the trenches of daily deadline journalism or in the beginning stages of what we all now know as NLGJA. My lasting memory of Roy involves a hot tub in Las Vegas. From my first meeting with Roy at our Washington DC convention in 1995, to the time he called me at home and personally asked me to become a chapter leader, I've always had this image of Roy as a mythic figure who deigned to walk among the rest of us ... I mean, he was the guy who started it all. Then came our Las Vegas convention in 1998. The night before the official start, Roy joined about a dozen of us in one of the resort's outdoor hot tubs. He was laughing, joking and telling stories ... his mischievous smile spreading across his face like the Cheshire cat's. It was a side of Roy I had never seen outside of board rooms and welcome receptions. He'd always been friendly and warm to me, but it was refreshing to see him with his guard down, at least a little. It gave me a new appreciation for him -- and helped me round out my image of him, to which I suspect few people could measure up. It'll be years before we can adequately measure Roy's impact on our profession, and I'm part of the generation of NLGJA leaders who have him to thank for our involvement. But as we all pause this week to remember Roy's impact on our lives, and mourn with Josh and the rest of his family, that night in Las Vegas is the memory I'll keep foremost in my mind -- and it won't fail to make me smile.