Local

Black, Boney, Zerbonia among Youngstown Press Club’s first hall of fame class

By Mahoning Matters staff and Tom Williams
From left, the late Bob Black, Stan Boney and entrepreneur Ralph Zerbonia are among the Youngstown Press Club's first Hall of Fame class. (Contributed photos)
From left, the late Bob Black, Stan Boney and entrepreneur Ralph Zerbonia are among the Youngstown Press Club's first Hall of Fame class. (Contributed photos)

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown Press Club has announced its first Hall of Fame class and First Amendment Award honoree.

Television newscasters Stan Boney and the late Bob Black, as well as entrepreneur Ralph Zerbonia, who created Youngstown Publishing Co. in 1983, are among the inaugural class to be inducted next month.

The Vindicator Printing Co., publisher of the 150-year-old Valley newspaper that closed Aug. 31, 2019, will receive the group's First Amendment Award.

The awards ceremony and dinner will take place at Stambaugh Auditorium at 6 p.m. Sept. 29.

Tickets cost $40 for individuals and $300 for tables of eight. For more information, click here.

Farmers National Bank is the presenting sponsor.

"The Press Club established the hall of fame and awards to celebrate members of our local communication, media and advertising community who have had long and distinguished careers," Adam Earnheardt, executive director, said in a news release.

Nominees for the hall of fame must have a minimum of 20 years of professional media experience, including journalism, public relations, advertising and/or writing.

The First Amendment Award is given to honor a person or organization who has taken a stand with the risk of personal or professional harm, the club said in a news release.

"It was created to honor those who have staunchly defended the freedoms protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution," Earnheardt said. The award will be given only in instances where the actions of the awardee are exceptional and must have happened in the past five years.

The Vindicator, owned by the Brown family, began in 1869 when it launched as The Mahoning Vindicator. It became the Youngstown Vindicator shortly after. Its reporting on the mafia, political corruption and big business matters garnered the paper a reputation of fearlessness.

In 1984, the paper became The Vindicator. The paper provided a heritage of reporting to uncover corruption and to be the watchdog for a community, the importance of good story-telling and the celebration of the past while emphasizing the importance for future First Amendment rights through journalistic freedom and longevity.

Black, who died in 2017, began his Valley career in 1978 with WKBN Channel 27 as a weekend sports announcer. A year later, he began anchoring Channel 27's weekday noon newscast. In 1987, he became WFMJ Channel 21's news anchor on the weekday 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. He retired in 2015.

Boney joined WYTV Channel 33 in 1979 then took over the weather duties on the weekday 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. In 2008, he became WYTV's co-anchor on those broadcasts. In 2015, he became a weeknight news anchor with WKBN's First News team.

For 47 years, Zerbonia has been a startup launch specialist. In 1984, when the Youngstown Business Journal was created, Zerbonia was its first president. Zerbonia left the Business Journal to became assistant editor of Sysop News, a monthly print publication, and editor of "Money With Your Modem," an online edition of the print publication.

This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 2:59 PM with the headline "Black, Boney, Zerbonia among Youngstown Press Club’s first hall of fame class."