Bill Gallo (December 28, 1922 – May 10, 2011) was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

and newspaper columnist, known for his cartoons about

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

, for the New York '' Daily News''.

Biography

Gallo was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, the son of a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

father who died when Gallo was 11 years old. Gallo's mother and father were natives of Spain. When Gallo graduated from high school in 1941, he landed a

copy boy A copy boy is a typically young and junior worker on a newspaper. The job involves taking typed stories from one section of a newspaper to another. According to Bruce Guthrie, the former editor-in-chief of the '' Herald Sun'' who began work ther ...

job on the ''Daily News''. He worked there for seven months until he was called to serve in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Gallo joined the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

on December 8, 1942. He completed his

recruit training Military recruit training, commonly known as basic training or boot camp, refers to the initial instruction of new military personnel. It is a physically and psychologically intensive process, which resocializes its subjects for the unique deman ...

Parris Island, South Carolina Parris Island is a district of the city of Port Royal, South Carolina on an island of the same name. It became part of the city with the annexation of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island on October 11, 2002. For statistical purposes, th ...

. Gallo served in combat in the

Pacific theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, fighting at

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

Tinian Tinian ( or ; old Japanese name: 天仁安島, ''Tenian-shima'') is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of th ...

and on Iwo Jima. After the war, he returned to the ''Daily News''. Gallo also attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and later the Cartoonists and Illustrators School (now known as the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

), under the

GI Bill of Rights The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

. 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.Bill Gallo Papers
at Syracuse University 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 Thurman Lee Munson (June 7, 1947 – August 2, 1979) was an American professional baseball catcher who played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the New York Yankees, from 1969 until his death in 1979. A seven-time All-Star, Mun ...

. Gallo's work can also be found on the walls of the Overlook in Midtown Manhattan which is owned by Patrick Evangelista, Mark Evangelista and Jeff Perzan, as well as in the permanent collections of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. On the night of Tuesday, May 10, 2011, Gallo died from complications stemming from pneumonia. He was 88.

Awards

;Columnist–writer: Gallo received the James J. Walker Award from the Boxing Writers Association, and the Champions Award from the Downtown Athletic Club. He was also inducted into the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...

. ;Cartoonist: He also received the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998. Gallo was also awarded the 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. He also received the 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 The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is an American award founded by the Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) (formerly known as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO)), which is presented annually to American citizens, both native-born ...

. Due to his health, he was unable to attend the ceremony on Ellis Island. The Daily News honored his medal with a two-page spread that weekend.

Notes

External links

Bill Gallo Papers 1960-1970
at Syracuse University (primary source material) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallo, Bill 1922 births 2011 deaths American cartoonists United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II American people of Spanish descent Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York) Columbia University alumni International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees School of Visual Arts alumni United States Marines Artists from New York City Writers from Manhattan