HALF CENTURY CLUB Inductees

OPA HALF CENTURY CLUB INDUCTEES

JIM FIENUP

Spiro Graphic Publisher James F. Fienup, who passed away last year, has been posthumously inducted into the Oklahoma Press Association Half Century Club for 2022.

Known to everyone as Jim and many times referred to as ‘Scoop,’ he was always on the beat to get the story first before other newspapers could publish.

The veteran news reporter and writer worked in the newspaper industry for 54 years, from 1967 to 2021, covering seven decades. His health took a toll, but Fienup always was aware of current issues in the state and local area.

He earned two degrees in Journalism and Communications from the University of Oklahoma. As a student intern at OU, he covered the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas.

In 1967, Fienup was a reporter for the Russell, Kansas Daily News when he interviewed Presidential candidate Bob Dole, oneon-one.

Fienup served as news manager of the Mansfield (Ohio) News-Journal for nearly two years. He worked for many newspapers and publishing companies, including the Poteau News & Sun in the 1970s and into the 1980s.

After a seven-year stint with the Chickasha Star from 1985 to 1993 as news editor, Fienup returned to LeFlore County and invested in Poteau Today, a weekly newspaper, as owner and news editor.

In November of 1994, he purchased the Spiro Graphic and made Spiro his home for the last 27 years.

Under the leadership of Fienup, the Spiro Graphic expanded coverage into the Panama, Pocola, Arkoma, Cameron, Keota, Shady Point and Bokoshe communities offering readers expanded coverage of sports, local school boards, town government and water districts.

JOEY GOODMAN

Joey Goodman, longtime sports editor at The Lawton Constitution, gained his love for sports at an early age.

His battle against polio pushed him toward a career where he could become involved in athletics at any level. Goodman contracted polio in the fall of 1953 and spent 85 days in a polio ward. At the age of 6 he began a series of surgical procedures on both legs that eventually allowed him to function with the assistance of one leg brace.

Goodman met former Constitution Sports Editor Herb Jacobs, who hired Goodman to be a stringer in 1972. Just six months later Goodman was elevated to full-time status, primarily covering prep sports at Lawton High, Eisenhower and MacArthur.

In 1986, Goodman was named sports editor, leading the department until retiring in 2018 after the local paper was sold to Southern Newspapers Inc. After a change in publishers, Goodman was rehired and continues to assist the paper with sports coverage on a regular basis.

As a member of the Associated Press Sports Editors Association he was selected to represent Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska as the smallpaper representative at the annual APSE national contest judging in Redondo Beach, California. In that role, Goodman was asked to help form an Oklahoma branch of that organization and at the initial meeting he was elected president.

In 2019, Goodman was one of the first three state media members who received the OSSAA Media Appreciation Award.

During his time as sports editor, the Oklahoma Press Association recognized The Constitution as having the top sports section for multiple years. Goodman was also honored with top honors in Division I personal columns in 2003.