By Paul Fultz
A standing room only crowd celebrated The Louisville Cardinal’s 100th anniversary as current and former staffers gathered for an emotionally-charged evening at the University of Louisville on Oct. 23.
About 150 alumni, students, faculty and guests packed into a room in the Student Activities Center to support student journalism and commemorate a milestone for UofL’s independent student news publication.
“I am so profoundly honored to be with you here tonight, especially our newspaper alumni and current staff,” said current Cardinal Editor-in-Chief Vinny Porco. “To have the privilege of standing up here and using words like we and us when talking about 100 years of student journalism means more to me than you will ever know.
Together we are a testament to the power of that work. It is a worthy pursuit. We are a distinguished group of people. We are the best and sometimes only proof of student life going back a century at UofL. We are unbiased, we are unbossed. We are The Louisville Cardinal.”
Porco said he was pleasantly surprised by the large crowd.
“This is just an absolutely incredible showing,” he said. “We were talking about 50 people, and I’m so touched by your presence. Give yourselves a pat on the back.”
But the anniversary wasn’t the evening’s only milestone. The second was the newspaper’s first print issue six years after becoming online only at louisvillecardinal.com. Copies of the special anniversary issue were distributed at the event.
“We talked about how we could make this centennial special,” Porco said. “Among suggestions was a brief return to print, the medium that started it all. Six months later we have something to place in your hands for the very first time since 2020.”
Porco’s remarks were followed by a three-person panel of former Cardinal staffers from different eras: Deborah Yetter (1974-1977), Jim Hines (1986-90) and Tate Luckey (2020-2024). They fielded questions about the differences between newsrooms then and now, the newspaper’s relationship with university administrators and the challenges of producing an independent student publication.
“The Cardinal taught us the mechanics of how to report, write and edit on deadline,” Yetter said. “And it taught you how to get along with people. It was the beginning of a lifetime of knowing how much fun it is to work at a newspaper. The give and take, the laughter, the sense of humor. Journalists are some of the funniest people I’ve ever met. And it just kept me going through a lifetime of journalism. I left in 2022 after 40 years at The Courier-Journal.”
Kandi Walker, chair of UofL’s Department of Communication, brought the evening to a close with a reminder that good journalism doesn’t come free.
She encouraged those who could to contribute to The Cardinal’s fundraising campaign, helping ensure that the newspaper will continue to serve future generations of students. The campaign runs through Nov. 2, and donations can be made by going to Give.Louisville.Edu/TheCardinal or using the QR code.
The night gave alumni a chance to reconnect with old friends, share a few memories and reflect on The Cardinal’s long history.
“It was a fun evening,” said Nick Waller, who worked on the paper in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. “It was good to see all my old Cardinal friends and to meet the current students who are now in charge and leading the Cardinal into the next 100 years.”
Photo: The Louisville Cardinal’s 100th Anniversary Celebration, which took place in Room W116/117 of UofL’s Student Activities Center from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026.
Photo By: Nick Waller
Photo Gallery: To view a photo gallery from the event, click here.
Commentary: The anniversary celebration brought back a flood of memories for The Cardinal’s alumni. Former staffer Jim Hines talks about why the paper means so much to him and many others in this touching tribute.
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