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REPRINTED FROM THE NIAGARA GAZETTE SEPTEMBER 28 2008
By Tim Schmitt / Niagara Gazette
September 28, 2008
— Talk about a hot story.
Joe Ognibene has long been the type of newspaperman who wasn’t afraid to be in
the thick of things. Case in point — when Ognibene called Niagara Gazette
suburban editor Charlie Dineen to phone in a tip on a flame-engulfed building a
few decades back, it wasn’t to tell his boss what the facade looked like from
the outside.
“Charlie said, ‘where are you calling from?’ So I told him, ‘I’m in the
building. I just wanted you to know it’s on fire.’ He couldn’t believe I was
calling,” Ognibene said.
Those who know Ognibene — whose freelance photographs appeared in the Niagara
Gazette, Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, Courier-Express and Buffalo Evening News
as early as the 1950s — aren’t surprised by that story.
Self-made photographer, reporter, outdoors columnist, and TV host are just a few
of the incarnations during Ognibene’s professional life. He’s also been a
woodworking specialist, and once cornered the market on wedding photography in
Lockport.
But no matter what Ognibene did, he did with vitality. His run as an outdoors
columnist with the Niagara Gazette will end with today’s column — a job he’s
held since 1957.
“It’s time,” Ognibene said this week from his Grand Island home. “I know I’ll
miss it, but I’m about to have work done on my knee and I won’t have a chance to
be out there, finding out what’s going on.
“But I know I’ll miss it. I’ve enjoyed being in the middle of a controversy, but
I need to move on.”
Ognibene first started writing the column when sports staffer Bob Lowe asked him
for help on an outdoors piece he was working on. Since Ognibene, at the time a
Gasport resident, had plenty of insight, he asked the then-photographer to put
down some thoughts.
“When I looked in the paper, he’d used my words verbatim,” Ognibene said. “I was
thrilled.”
Soon after, Ognibene’s weekly column was born, and it’s been a popular feature
ever since.
Although his friends occasionally kid him about being a columnist, he’s always
been happy to hear from those who read his work.
“The guys I fished with always had to say something,” he joked. “They’d tell me,
‘that fish was 16 pounds, not 20.’ But I knew that meant they were reading it.”
Joe was a hustler as a photographer, according to veteran reporter Don Glynn.
“He was very aggressive. He’d dash to any scene to cover a story, always quick
to get out (to) an assignment. Joe had a good rapport with the staff and was
also good at suggesting stories.
“He was an affable type to work with who was concerned about people. He made a
lot of friends because of it.”
After winning awards as a photographer and police reporter for the Gazette,
Ognibene fell in love with TV — and soon after his “Outdoor Scene” television
program was born.
Through the TV show, Ognibene traveled throughout the continent, fishing some of
the most exotic locations in the United States and Canada. The show was picked
up by stations in Binghamton, Syracuse and Rochester, before crossing state
lines — eventually “Outdoor Scene” was on in six states.
All the while, Ognibene did all the photography, and sold all the advertising
for the show.
“It was a lot of work, but it was a great experience,” he said. “I couldn’t
believe how many people were watching. One time, I went up to a place in
Northern Ontario and did the show at this place that was on the brink of
closing. The next week, the guy who ran it called me and told me he was sold
out. He was turning people down that wanted to come up there. I realized we had
something.”
While at the Gazette, Ognibene was assigned to shoot a photo of a new
correspondent. The chemistry was instant, and a few years later, Mary and Joe
Ognibene were more than co-workers — they were married. “She was the best they
ever had,” Ognibene said of his wife, who lost her battle with cancer in
January.
Former Gazette editor John Hanchette, now a journalism professor at St.
Bonaventure, entered Mary Ognibene in a contest after she spent a few days
learning the intricacies of a Wilson-area farm. She won the national prize,
which awarded the winner a trip to Switzerland to speak on farm-related issues.
“She told them to keep their trip,” Joe fondly recalls. “She didn’t want to give
speeches.”
With Mary’s passing, Ognibene has decided he’ll spend winters in Florida, away
from the home the couple kept on West River Road.
“I don’t think I want to be here all winter. I’ll come back in spring. When the
ice flow goes that way,” he said, pointing first downstream then upstream, “I’ll
head that way.”
As for the long ride, Ognibene has made more than his share of enemies, although
he insists he’s never had a problem with differing opinions. In fact, it’s what
he might miss most about his weekly column.
“Some people, even friends, tell me they can’t stand what I write,” he said.
“I’ve always wanted to be in the middle of things, but I’ve always listened to
what they have to say. People will tell me they don’t agree with me, but they’ll
stick up for me, because they know I’m just being honest.
“I’ve lived a rich and full life, doing things I never dreamt I’d do. My only
regret is not meeting Mary sooner. "But other than that, if I had to do it
all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Tim Schmitt/Staff Saying goodbye: Joe Ognibene has never been shy about
controversy. The self-styled photographer and outdoors reporter penned his
final column today after 51 years of covering the outdoors scene. September
28 2008
Tim Schmitt Gazette Sports Editor
Thank You Joe from all your loyal readers, you will be missed and we will be looking for that special memo from Florida.
It's been fun, Your Friend, Mark Daul and Outdoors Niagara
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