George Hackett is a veteran Associated Press newsman who has spent entire 44-year career with wire service in Kentucky. Following Army service, he joined AP as wirephoto operator in 1944. Hackett later became a radio news writer. He was appointed news editor for AP in Kentucky in 1955 and directed on-site coverage of an integration dispute which brought National Guard to Clay and Sturgis. He also directed coverage of the 1959 school bus disaster in Prestonsburg which killed 27 people. Hackett scored a 15-minute worldwide beat of disqualification of Dancer’s Image following 1968 Derby. He also covered Kentucky General Assembly, coalfields of Eastern Kentucky, 35 Derbies and NCAA Final Four. In 1970 he was named enterprise editor and started writing a weekly column in 1977 on unusual people and places. He trained scores of young journalists who gained success with AP and with various newspapers. Hackett received Distinguished Service Award from Western Kentucky University’s chapter of Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi in 1982 as well as the Kentucky Human Service Award from Kentucky Cabinet for Human Resources in 1984. Hackett is a native of Louisville and attended the University of Louisville.