Louis F. Darvas (30 July 1913 – February 1987) was an American artist and sports cartoonist. He received the

National Cartoonist Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

Sports Cartoon Award for 1963 and 1967 for his work. He also authored a book called "You Can Draw Cartoons", published in 1960 by

Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...

Background

Darvas was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

. He started his artistic journey as a cartoonist at Thomas Jefferson Junior High School, and then at the West Technical High School through the 11th grade. He then got a job scrapping old signs for an advertising firm, while he followed his cartoonist training in night art classes at John Huntington Institute.

Career

Darvas's first newspaper job was with the Toledo News Bee as an artist. He moved to Cleveland and worked with the

Cleveland Press The ''Cleveland Press'' was a daily American newspaper published in Cleveland, Ohio from November 2, 1878, through June 17, 1982. From 1928 to 1966, the paper's editor was Louis B. Seltzer. Known for many years as one of the country's most in ...

from 1938 onwards. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he served in the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

as head of the drafting and art room of the senior staff school supervising charts and graphs for secret Air Force statistical records. During his stint in the Army, he won the first place for cartoons in the art show of the Army Air Corps Tactical Center at

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

in 1944. He was the author of a daily comic strip called " Half Nelson" for the

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

Syndicate for a year before returning to Cleveland Press. His work appeared regularly from 1946 onwards on the cover of the ''

Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...

''. Lou Darvas died aged 73, and was survived by his wife Margaret, his daughters Janet and Laura, his son Robert, his stepdaughter Terry Rohde, 2 grandchildren and a sister.

Awards

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Sports Media Association and received the National Cartoonist Society Award for the best work in the field of sports in 1964 and 1968.

External links

NCS Awards

Lou Darvas Course on DVD
1913 births 1987 deaths American sports cartoonists American comics writers American comics artists American humorists United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army Air Forces soldiers {{US-cartoonist-stub