James Armitage, M.D., will join an illustrious group of local, regional and national figures when he is honored Feb. 4 by the Omaha Press Club.
Dean of the UNMC College of Medicine, Dr. Armitage will be recognized with the OPC’s most prestigious award — “The Face on the Barroom Floor.” He will be the 86th individual to receive this recognition, and the first physician ever to be honored.
Previous recipients include a U.S. president (Gerald Ford), a vice president (Spiro Agnew), three coaching legends (Bob Devaney, Tom Osborne and Hayden Fry), a financial genius (Warren Buffett), and numerous political figures.
“The Face on the Barroom Floor has been a club tradition for the past 30 years,” said Tom O’Connor, senior associate director in UNMC’s public affairs department and president of the OPC this year. “This is a big-time honor for Dr. Armitage and the great work he has done in making UNMC one of the leading centers in the world for treating patients with lymphoma. He has truly put Omaha on the medical map.”
Dr. Armitage, who has served as dean of the College of Medicine since 2000, is best known for starting the bone marrow transplant program at UNMC in 1982. Prior to becoming dean, he served 10 years as professor and chairman of the internal medicine department.
The ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a cash bar cocktail reception followed by a roast of Dr. Armitage at 6:30 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. The event is open to the public. There is no cost to attend the roast. If you wish to stay for dinner the cost is $24.50 and reservations are required. The OPC is on the 22nd floor of the First National Bank building at 16th and Dodge streets. Reservations can be made by calling 345-8008.
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“It’s really a great deal, especially when you consider that the normal yearly rate for an associate membership is $516. Nearly 100 university employees have already signed on as members,” O’Connor said. Located at 16th and Dodge streets on the 22nd floor of the First National Center, the OPC has a restaurant and bar and offers a unique panoramic view of Omaha. For more information on the OPC, visit the Web at http://www.omahapressclub.org/. For membership inquiries, contact O’Connor at 559-4690 or toconnor@unmc.edu. |
The roast is the highlight of the Face on the Barroom Floor event, O’Connor said. “The Omaha Press Club started the event as a way to recognize outstanding individuals who are frequently in the news,” he said. “Of course, the news media can sometimes be a little irreverent, so they have always tried to make having fun the key objective of the event. There is nothing stodgy about this event. The whole idea is to honor the individual and have lots of laughs doing it.”
A caricature of Dr. Armitage will be unveiled at the end of the roast. The drawing, which was done by Omaha artist Jim Horan, will be encased on the barroom floor until a new “face” is honored in a couple of months. The old face will then join previous honorees on the club’s walls, O’Connor said.
Dr. Armitage’s roast will have a distinct UNMC flavor. UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., will serve as master of ceremonies, while the roasters will be:
John Gollan, M.D., professor and chairman, UNMC internal medicine department; Mike Sorrell, M.D., professor, UNMC internal medicine department; Ward Chambers, M.D., executive director, UNMC community and multicultural affairs; and C. R. (Bob) Bell, vice president for business and community development for UNeMed Corp. and former president of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s always nice to be honored with an award, but being a Face on the Barroom Floor is a somewhat unique experience,” said Gary Kerr, former anchor for WOWT and the 80th individual to receive the face recognition. “It’s all about life. No matter what you do for a living, we all put our pants on one leg at a time. Dr. Armitage has helped save the lives of lots of people over the years, and his patients all probably think he walks on water.
“But, once the roasters get done with him, my guess is that he’ll have the same reaction I did – please get this over before everyone in the room thinks I’m a complete fool. It’s a humbling experience to say the least.”
It’s all for a good cause, O’Connor said, as the OPC provides scholarships each year to journalism students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Creighton University.