Sassone joins Northern Star's Hall of Fame

DeKALB — Veteran hockey writer Tim Sassone, who has covered the Blackhawks for the Daily Herald since 1988, was inducted Saturday into the Northern Star Hall of Fame.

The Northern Illinois University-based organization inducted seven members into the HOF at an alumni ceremony Saturday. The Class of 2013 HOF members included: Bill Hetland, Star editor-in-chief from 1965-66 who later worked for newspapers in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Florida; Jon Lawrence, a Star cartoonist in 1970 now teaching in Australia; Kevin Craver, a 1994 Star staff member who worked as a reporter, cartoonist and senior investigative reporter before joining the Northwest Herald in 2000; Barry Schrader, a 1963 Star reporter who now writes a column for the Daily Chronicle; Matt Bute, a 1999 member of the Star Advertising staff who works for the Chicago Tribune; and Ÿ Jim Killam, a Star adviser from 1995-2012 who assists mission work through ReachGlobal.

Michael Korcek, a Northern Star Hall of Fame member and former sports information director at NIU, presented Sassone with a Northern Star HOF plaque honoring him for his work in sports journalism.

Daily Herald columnist Barry Rozner was inducted into the Northern Star HOF in 2011. Former Daily Herald employees Chuck Shriver and Deborah Nelson also are in the Star's Hall of Fame.