H. Darr Beiser

Darr Beiser (’76) was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.

My time working at the Wildcat was my first exposure to daily photojournalism. The responsibility of producing a paper five days a week helped shape me into the professional photographer that I am today. I was lucky to collaborate with an amazing group of writers and editors and I will always treasure the memories of working with them.

Darr Beiser is an award-winning photographer with USA Today, which he joined in its first year, 1982, and was part of the team the created the prototype for the paper. Throughout his career at USA Today, Darr has distinguished himself in both news and sports photography, shooting some of the most important events of the past 25 years. He covered the 9-11 attack on the Pentagon, Hurricane Katrina, the Columbia space shuttle accident, and the shootings at Columbine and Virginia Tech. He has also photographed hundreds of international sporting events, Olympic Games (including the recent event in Beijing), Super Bowls, World Series and Final Four tournaments.

When in Washington, Darr regularly covers Capitol Hill and the White House and has photographed every president since Reagan. He is a member of the White House News Photographers Association and has won many awards from that organization over the years. Darr’s work has also been recognized by the Football and Baseball Halls of Fame, and he has won many Gannett company-wide awards for outstanding work.

Darr Beiser has long ties to Tucson, where he started his photo career at Salpointe High and is a member of the Distinguised Alumni Hall of Fame. Throughout his college years he was a photographer for the Daily Wildcat and was photo editor in 1976. He worked for the Casa Grande Dispatch after graduation and was hired a year later by the Tucson Citizen