Journalist
Gary Fife was a career veteran of journalism with 50 years of experience in print, radio, and television. An enrolled citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, and of Cherokee heritage, Fife specialized in national Native and governmental affairs, spending 11 years in the nation’s capital. He moved to Alaska for the prospect of founding the Indigenous focused radio program, the first Native weekday radio news service, ‘National Native News.’ At its peak, the program was carried on 181 public radio stations across the country. Fife has numerous awards in national and state press competitions, three legislative citations from the State of Alaska and the Governor’s Community Service Medal. In 1978, he was the first Native American recipient of a Ford Fellowship in Educational Journalism. He has held an internship as a guest editor on the national desk of NPR.
Inducted in 2025