Gallo, Bill, 1922-2011

Bill Gallo (1922-2011) was an award-winning American sports cartoonist.
Born December 28, 1922 in New York City and raised in Astoria, Queens, William "Bill" Gallo grew up wanting to work for a newspaper. His father, an immigrant from the Basque region of Spain, worked at the the Spanish-language paper La Prensa. Gallo acquired his art education through Columbia University and what is now the School of Visual Arts through the GI Bill.
In 1941, he joined the staff of the New York Daily News and worked as a reporter, caption writer and staff artist. He left in 1942 to serve with the United States Marine Corps but returned in 1945 after a tour of duty that included Iwo Jima. In 1954 his first cartoon was published in the Daily News and he became the paper's sports cartoonist in 1960, after the death of cartoonist Leo O'Melia. Not only did Gallo depict many figures in the sports world, he has also met and befriended many prominent athletes including Muhammad Ali and baseball's Joe Dimaggio.
Gallo has been an active member of the National Cartoonists Society. He served two terms as NCS president and won many of their awards including best sports cartoonist (1968-1970, 1972-1973, 1983-1985, 1987-1988), the Silver T-Square Award (1978), and the Elzie Segar Award (1976). In 1998 NCS recognized him with the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award. Gallo's work has also won several Page One Awards from the New York Newspaper Guild. Gallo has been a member of the New York Boxing Writers (serving as president), the Baseball Writers Association, Professional Football Writers, Turf Writers and The New York Press Association. His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
An estimated 15,000 cartoons by Gallo have appeared in the Daily News and in 2000, Gallo published Drawing a Crowd: Bill Gallo's Greatest Sports Moments. As of 2009, Gallo was still writing a weekly sports column for the Daily News.
Gallo died in May 2011 of complications of pneumonia.

NYDailyNews.com WWW site, May 11, 2011 (Bill Gallo; b. Dec. 28, 1922, Manhattan; d. late Tuesday night [May 10, 2011], White Plains, aged 88; Daily news sports cartoonist and columnist)
New York times WWW site, May 12, 2011 (in obituary published May 11: Bill Gallo; b. William Victor Gallo, Dec. 28, 1922, Manhattan; d. Tuesday [May 10, 2011], White Plains, aged 88)

Bill Gallo; born Manhattan, N.Y. December 28, 1922; died White Plains, N.Y. from complications from pneumonia at age 88, May 10, 2011; cartoonist and newspaper columnist, known for his cartoons about sports, for the New York Daily News. <p/> When Gallo graduated from high school in 1941, he landed a copy boy job on the Daily News. He worked there for seven months until he was called to serve in World War II. Gallo joined the United States Marine Corps on December 8, 1942. He completed his recruit training at Parris Island, South Carolina. Gallo served in combat in the Pacific theater, fighting at Saipan, Tinian and on Iwo Jima. After the war, he returned to the Daily News. <p/> Gallo attended Columbia University and later the Cartoonists and Illustrators School (now known as the School of Visual Arts), under the GI Bill of Rights. In 1960, Gallo was transferred to the Sports Department of the newspaper, where he began doing sports cartoons following the death of cartoonist Leo O'Melia. <p/> Gallo developed the characters Basement Bertha and Yuchie. One of Gallo's more famous works was his 1979 tribute sketch after the death of Yankees baseball great, Thurman Munson. <p/> Gallo received the James J. Walker Award from the Boxing Writers Association; Champions Award from the Downtown Athletic Club; inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame; received the National Cartoonists Society Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998; Page One Journalism Award from the New York Newspaper Guild 20 times, the Power of Printing Award, the Elzie Segar Award (as outstanding Cartoonist in 1975), and the Achievement Award for Alumni from the School of Visual Arts;National Cartoonist Society Sports Cartoon Award for 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1988.In January 2010, Gallo was among the honorees, accepting an award for his boxing writing at the Ring 8 benefit in Howard Beach, New York. The Ring 8 organization awards Bill Gallo college and vocational scholarships annually based on need to aspiring male and female scholars with a boxing background.On May 7, 2011, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Due to his health, he was unable to attend the ceremony on Ellis Island.