Norm Clarke
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Norm Clarke (July 8, 1942 – March 20, 2025) was an American sportswriter and reporter, later known for his
gossip column A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially in a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are written in a light, informal style, and relate opinions about the personal lives or conduct of celebrities f ...
in the ''
Las Vegas Review-Journal The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area. The ''Review-Journal' ...
'', which ran from 1999 to 2016.


Early life

Clarke was born on July 8, 1942, in Terry, Montana. He had two brothers and a sister. Their father died of cancer when Clarke was about 10 years old. When Clarke was a young child, one of his suspenders snapped loose and struck his right eye as he was playing. There were no effects until several years later when the eye became discolored; this, along with the family's history of cancer, prompted their doctor to encourage the eye's removal, which occurred around the age of 10. Clarke used a prosthetic eye into adulthood before adopting what would become his trademark eyepatch. In 1955, Clarke was working as a paperboy for the ''Miles City Star'' newspaper. He graduated from Terry High School in 1960. Clarke subsequently attended Northern Montana College, but later dropped out, briefly bagging groceries thereafter.


Career

Clarke began his writing career in 1963, as a sportswriter for the ''Terry Tribune'', a weekly newspaper. He moved on to newspaper jobs in Miles City, Helena and Billings, Montana.


Associated Press and ''Rocky Mountain News''

In 1973 he went to work for the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
(AP) in
Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, where he covered the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in neighboring Southgate, Kentucky, in which 165 people perished. In 2014, Clarke revisited the incident and wrote his account of interviewing the 18-year-old bus boy, Walter Bailey, who interrupted the comedians on stage to try to warn the nearly 1,300 people in the room about the fire. As authorities were controlling the scene in the immediate aftermath, Clark was the first to be able to interview Bailey. Clarke's reporting on the Willow Island Disaster, a 1978 collapse of a power plant in West Virginia, garnered him and his colleagues a nomination for the
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
. He also covered the 1980 MGM Grand fire in Las Vegas. He eventually transferred to
San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
and then
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, where he helped coordinate the AP's coverage of the
1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...
. Clarke next went to Denver's ''
Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. the Monday–Friday ...
'' to work as a sportswriter, eventually covering the
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
team the Colorado Rockies. During the
1989 World Series The 1989 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1989 season. The 86th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics and the ...
held in San Francisco, Clarke was in the stadium as the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake On October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. Pacific Time Zone, PST, the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred at the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz Cou ...
damaged the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
and the Stadium. In 1996, he switched to writing a lifestyle column for the paper.


''Las Vegas Review-Journal''

In 1999, Clarke wound up meeting the publisher of the ''
Las Vegas Review-Journal The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area. The ''Review-Journal' ...
'' while visiting one of his brothers, who worked as a photographer for the newspaper. The discussion led to Clarke joining the newspaper as its celebrity gossip columnist. His column, eventually known as "Vegas Confidential," launched on September 17, 1999. The column ran until July 28, 2016, when health challenges required additional medication, producing side effects which interfered with his work. Within a year, he had come out of retirement and joined the Vegas Stats & Information Network as a contributing columnist.


Bibliography

Clarke wrote five books. The most recent, a memoir called ''Power of the Patch'', was published in March 2025, just before his death. * ''Sinsational Celebrity Tales: Norm Clarke's Vegas Confidential''. Stephens Press, 2009. . . In the book, Clarke offers remembrances of
celebrities Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...
who live in, or visit Las Vegas. * ''1,000 Naked Truths: Vegas Confidential: Norm Clarke! Sin City's Ace Insider''. Stephens Press, 2004. . The book is a compilation of material from old columns, plus a great deal of new material. In the book, Clarke lists (among other things) the ten worst tippers in Las Vegas. * ''High Hard Ones: Denver's Road to the Rockies from Inside the Newspaper War''. Phoenix Press, 1993. . * ''Tracing Terry Trails: A Chronological History Compiled for Terry County Centennial Celebration''. (Montana, nknown publisher 1982). .


Other media

From 2013 to 2019, Clarke hosted "Conversations with Norm", a stage series in which he interviewed numerous celebrities at the
Smith Center for the Performing Arts The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located at Symphony Park in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. Consisting of three theaters in two buildings, the performing arts center is designed in the Neo Art Deco style. The ...
. He published the website ''Norm Clarke's Vegas Diary'', which covered Las Vegas news, celebrity sightings, history, and human-interest stories.


Personal life and death

Clarke was a resident of Las Vegas from 1999 and onward. On October 12, 2012, at the Smith Center, Clarke married Cara Roberts, whom he had met years earlier in Denver. In 2001, Clarke was diagnosed with
prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...
and continued to battle it for more than two decades. He ceased cancer treatment and entered
hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...
care on March 12, 2025, a week after injuring his hip at home. He died on March 20, 2025, at the age of 82. Clarke hoped to be remembered as a reporter rather than a gossip columnist, noting his tenure with the AP. He was survived by his wife and siblings.


References


External links

*
Norm Clarke's Vegas Diary

What happens in Vegas, Norm Clarke knows
''
Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...
'', March 19, 2017
Clarke's keynote address
to the
Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...
(
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...
website, QuickTime) {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Norm 1942 births 2025 deaths American columnists American newspaper reporters and correspondents Associated Press reporters Deaths from prostate cancer in Nevada Journalists from Montana People from Prairie County, Montana Rocky Mountain News people Writers from Montana Writers from Nevada Writers from the Las Vegas Valley