SpringfieldNewsSun.com

I am blessed to be in a career where time moves quickly, and the years seem to come and go in a minute.

But in recent months, as I have been fighting my way back after a threatening challenge from cancer, the hours have simply crept. As I anxiously await the green light to begin writing regular columns once again, I have had lots of time to reflect on my long life in the news business.

Forty years ago today, on a rainy Flag Day in 1968, I first reported to work here at the Dayton Daily News. I had returned after 10 years as a newspaper and television reporter in Cincinnati to continue my career in my hometown.

What a lucky man I am to have been able to help cover most of the major stories you have read about in this newspaper since most of you have been able to read. My assignments have ranged from the painful to the most exhilarating of human experiences.

The best reward is knowing I have informed people, touched lives, and in my own way have been able to make a difference.

But official recognition is also heartwarming.

This week I was informed that based on my professional accomplishments as a newsman, and for my community involvement I have been inducted into the Dayton Walk of Fame. The prestigious honor is set for Sept. 25, when five community figures are inducted.

There are countless poignant memories of the 40 years I have been pounding a beat for this newspaper.

I remember well that terrible evening of the major Xenia tornado in 1974, when I was one of the first reporters on the scene. I watched as a distraught mother found her 19-year-old son shrouded by a sheet on a downtown street, and slowly pulled the sheet away, and then fell across her son's body.

A highlight was going to Germany in 1984 after Daytonian Steven Lauterbach, one of the hostages held by Iran, was released after 444 days of captivity. I flew home with Steven for the community celebration of his safe release.

Other assignments of note sent me to Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania after a nuclear accident and to New Jersey to cover the landmark trial of whether Karen Ann Quinlan should be taken off life support.

Here at home, I adopted 100 boys and girls in kindergarten and followed them all the way to graduation in 2000. They remain my "Dale Huffman Class of 2000."

In 1981 I went back to Huffman Elementary School and spent the year as an honorary student, documenting life in the school system.

I spent a day dressed up in full costume as "Sunshine" the clown, parachuted out of an airplane at age 50, and was "officially" smuggled into prison where I spent a week as a prisoner.

After the Ohio penitentiary riot in Columbus in 1968 I was called to Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress about conditions our newspaper uncovered during riot coverage.

There have been many gut-wrenching interviews and profiles. The stories that stick with me are the interviews with the parents of Jason "Jake" Grossnickle after the young Dayton police officer was shot down on the job and killed, and the time I spent with the Kalaman family when their son, John P. Kalaman, a police officer in Centerville, was struck by an automobile and died on the job.

I have interviewed entertainers such as Judy Garland, and have been a guest in the White House and have interviewed four U.S. presidents.

And there have been fun adventures. I had a famous quest for my "mystery kisser," enjoyed a downtown picnic with my Pimento Cheese Queen, lost my black sock and triggered a world search, and had a beauty makeover from Calvin Klein.

On this significant anniversary, I say thank you to my friends and followers. I especially thank my newspaper employers who have been devotedly supportive through all the years.

I thank God for my health, my mind, and for a job that lets me touch lives in a positive way.

Things change quickly and sometimes we feel overtaken by events around us. But with your help I am determined to return to a full schedule soon, coping, growing, and testing new challenges.

There is a still so much to be done.

Dale Huffman wants your suggestions and story ideas. Send e-mail to dhuffman@DaytonDailyNews.com or write to Dale at 1611 S. Main St. Dayton, OH 45409.

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