William J. Riley Sr. (October 7, 1920 – December 15, 2006) was an American entertainer known as "Mr. State Fair" in Iowa. Riley was born in

Iowa Falls, Iowa Iowa Falls is a city in Hardin County, Iowa, United States. Iowa Falls is the home of Ellsworth Community College. It is also a regional transportation center, located along U.S. Routes 20 and 65 and the Canadian National and Union Pacific Rail ...

. His father died when he was 18 months old, and Bill and his brother were raised by their mother through the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. He attended Ellsworth and Loras Colleges and served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. He became involved in

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

with

KRNT KRNT (1350 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a sports format. Serving the Des Moines, Iowa, United States, area, the station is owned by the Des Moines Radio Group subsidiary of Saga Communications through licensee Saga Communications of Iowa ...

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

during

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 ...

. In 1946, he first held a television broadcast at the

Iowa State Fair The Iowa State Fair is an annual state fair held in Des Moines, Iowa in August. It began in 1854 and has been held on the Iowa State Fairgrounds since 1886. It is based in the state capital Des Moines, Iowa over an 11 day period in August. With ...

in Des Moines. Riley stayed with KRNT until 1973, when he became an executive for Hawkeye Cablevision (now

Mediacom Mediacom Communications Corporation is the United States' fifth largest cable television provider based on the number of video subscribers, and among the leading cable operators focused on serving smaller cities and towns. The company has a s ...

). Riley began the Bill Riley Iowa State Fair Talent Search in 1959. He went from town to town in Iowa, holding talent competitions for Iowans age 2 to 21. The best of these would then come to compete at the Iowa State Fair. Bill Riley was the host and cheerleader for these competitions until he retired in 1996. The following year, his son, Bill Riley Jr., took over hosting duties, and the Plaza Stage where the contest was held was renamed the Anne and Bill Riley Stage. Many of the talent show participants have gone on to successful careers, such as

Simon Estes Simon Estes (born March 2, 1938) is an operatic bass-baritone of African-American descent who had a major international opera career beginning in the 1960s. He has sung at most of the world's major opera houses as well as in front of presiden ...

and Carrie McDowell. A total of 110 contestants participated in the talent search in 2006. Riley was inducted into the Iowa Rock 'n Roll Music Association's Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2006, the state fair honored Riley as the grand marshal of the fair parade. Also, his likeness was sculpted in butter by Sarah Pratt. Riley died in

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

, of complications from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

at age 86.

References

External links

The official Bill Riley Talent Search PageAugust 2006 Des Moines Register article on Bill Riley Sr.Bill Riley at the Iowa Rock 'n Roll Music Association Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riley Sr, Bill 1920 births 2006 deaths Deaths from leukemia People from Des Moines, Iowa Deaths from cancer in Arizona People from Iowa Falls, Iowa