West Virginian of the Year


West Virginian of the Year is an annual selection by the editorial board of the Charleston Gazette of the individual who best shows the "spirit of West Virginia". The winner can either be a native West Virginian who achieved after leaving the state, or a person living in the state for achievements in the state. The winner is announced in the last Sunday edition of the Charleston Gazette-Mail. It is considered similar to the Time Magazine person of the year award, on a state basis.
1951 Okey Patteson, governor, advocated construction of West Virginia Turnpike

1952 Walter S. Hallanan, editor of Huntington Herald-Dispatch, chairman of the 1952 Republican National Convention

1953 Felix Stump, admiral, USN, commander of United States Pacific Fleet

1954 Chuck Yeager, general, USAF, test pilot

1955 Leonard Riggleman, president Morris Harvey College

1956 John Hoblitzell, Jr., senator, education advocate

1957 Michael Benedum, oil "wildcatter" donated fortune to a foundation for state improvement

1958 William Thompson, state trial court judge, advocated probation

1959 Jerry West basketball and Sam Huff football, athletes at West Virginia University,

1960 Fred Otto, civic leader, saved local DuPont plant from closure

1961 Charles Hodell, editor of Raleigh Register and Beckley Post-Herald orphan with a disability

1962 Pearl Buck, author, won Nobel Prize

1963 Cyrus Vance, diplomat

1964 Jennings Randolph, senator, advocated Appalachian Regional Commission

1965 Leon Sullivan, minister, advocated affirmative action

1966 Walter Reuther, labor leader, president United Auto Workers

1967 Hilarion Cann, Fred Holloway, Samuel Cooper, & Wilburn Campbell, religious ministers, advocated affirmative action

1968 Phillis Curtain and George Crumb, Jr, opera singer and composer

1969 Daniel Hale, physician and conservationist, advocated construction of flood control dams and clean water supply systems

1970 William Brotherton, state senate president, opposed corruption

1971 John Norman, physician, researcher in heart disease

1972 Arch Moore, governor, cited for "dynamic first term"

1973 Arnold Miller, labor leader, overthrew corrupt administration of United Mine Workers

1974 Robert Byrd, senator, named chairman of Senate Appropriations Committee

1975 James Harlow, physicist, president, West Virginia University

1976 James David Barber, political scientist Duke University, author

1977 Robert Byrd, named Senate Majority Leader

1978 Mary Lee Settle, author

1979 Maurice Brooks, biologist, West Virginia University

1980 Charles Peters, Jr, political commentator, editor of Washington Monthly

1981 Sharon Rockefeller, state first lady, advocated PBS

1982 Arthur Recht, state trial court judge, ruled state school funding system unconstitutional

1983 James "Buck" Harless, timber and coal company owner, donated much of his fortune to Marshall University and other state projects

1984 Mary Lou Retton, gymnast, won gold medal at 1984 Summer Olympics

1985 Louise McNeil Pease, poet

1986 Dale Nitzchke, president, Marshall University

1987 Roberta Emerson, curator, Huntington Museum of Art

1988 Don Nehlen, football coach at 11-1 West Virginia University

1989 Michael Carey, lawyer, United States Attorney, fought Democratic Party machine corruption in Mingo County, West Virginia

1990 Robert Byrd, for appropriation "earmarks"

1991 Jay Rockefeller, senator

1992 Lyell Clay, Hazel Ruby McQuain, Charlie Erickson, Joan C. Edwards and "other philanthropists", for donations to state projects

1993 1993 West Virginia Mountaineers football team, which went 11-1

1994 Henry Louis Gates, professor, Harvard University

1995 Robert Frasure, diplomat, Assistant Secretary of State, for work in Bosnia

1996 Gaston Caperton, governor, cited for "having few scandals"

1997 Elisabeth Hallanan, federal judge, found a school prayer unconstitutional

1998 Thomas J. Lopez, admiral, USN, commander of Navy in Bosnia

1999 Bob Pruett and 1999 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, which went 13-0

2000 John Chambers, Jr, businessman, founder of Cisco

2001 West Virginia National Guard

2002 Robert Byrd for opposing Operation Iraqi Freedom

2003 Jessica Lynch, private, USA, briefly a Prisoner of War

2004 Charlie Jones, businessman, owner of coal barge company

2005 "West Virginia Soldiers and their families"

2006 David Hardesty, president, West Virginia University

2007 Jennifer Garner, actress

2008 Betty Schoenbaum, widow of founder of Shoney's, philanthropist

2009 Jim Justice, businessman, saved The Greenbrier from bankruptcy

2010 Allen Tackett, general, WVANG

2011 Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr., singer, won America's Got Talent

2012 Dan Foster, legislator and medical doctor, supported single-payer health care system

2013 Boy Scouts of America, built large campground near Fayetteville
http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201112310064?page=2&build=cache