Bill Cochran, a lifetime resident of Roanoke, is this year’s media inductee. Cochran began writing about the outdoors while at William Fleming High School. Following his graduation from Lynchburg College in 1960, his byline appeared more than 300 times in national outdoors magazines, including Outdoor Life, Field & Stream and Sports Afield. In 1962, he began writing for the Roanoke Times, which soon turned into a full-time position as the paper’s first outdoor writer. His column, “Life Afield,” appeared three times each week for the next 36 years, introducing new concepts and promoting youth interest in outdoor sporting. Cochran is a 10-time recipient of Virginia Press Association awards, and was honored in 1999 with Virginia House Joint Resolution 520, for using his writing to “fight pollution of the Commonwealth’s matchless environment.”
