We learned with tremendous pride last week of the selection of the late John B. Gaines – a longtime publisher and president of the Bowling Green Daily News – for induction into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame.

Gaines, a Bowling Green native who died in 2007 at the age of 92, worked for nearly 70 years at this newspaper, which his grandfather founded in 1882 and remains under Gaines family ownership to this day. Sixty of those years were spent as publisher and president, and Gaines made an indelible mark on this community and state through his commitment to principled journalism and generous philanthropy.

Pipes Gaines – John B. Gaines’ son and publisher emeritus of the Daily News – wrote in his nomination letter to the Hall of Fame committee at the University of Kentucky of the newspaper’s strong editorial stances on local issues during his father’s tenure, some of which went against prevailing community sentiment. The newspaper supported a countywide library tax and the creation of an airport – both of which became reality. The Daily News also endorsed every proposed public school tax, even though most of them failed in public referendums, Pipes Gaines wrote. He also described an instance in which an editorial position resulted in the loss of $75,000 in advertising revenue, illustrating his father’s belief that the public good outweighed profits.

Such community advocacy earned John B. Gaines – along with his brother, J. Ray Gaines – the nod as co-recipients in 1980 of the Edward H. Templin Memorial Award, presented annually by the Lexington Herald-Leader to a state newspaper employee demonstrating outstanding community service.

“John B. Gaines was a journalist’s journalist,” Pipes Gaines told Daily News reporter Don Sergent last week. “He loved facts, especially printed facts, although he once observed that not everyone liked facts.”

Beyond Bowling Green, John B. Gaines was a board member for the Kentucky Press Association, serving as president of that organization in 1962. He also sat on the board of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, now known as America’s Newspapers, and twice served as director.

Gaines’ philanthropy was equally notable, with gifts that helped aspiring journalists through establishment of a scholarship fund for journalism students at Western Kentucky University. And in 2004, he helped the Daily News set up a perpetual fund at WKU that established the Gaines Family Lecture Series that brings in speakers who have achieved prominence in journalism. Other recipients of Gaines’ generosity included the Community Foundation of South Central Kentucky in Bowling Green and the University of Alabama, from which Gaines graduated with a degree in journalism.

Gaines will enter the Hall of Fame alongside seven other highly accomplished journalists, all of whom are deserving of the distinction. We applaud them all, and we extend our gratitude to the Hall of Fame selection committee for choosing to honor John B. Gaines’ lifetime of service and achievement.