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There was also the story of Dayton Flyers basketball legend Bucky Bockhorn and his two brothers who were killed serving their county – Junior in World War II and Gene in the Korean War.
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Another column was on “Little Miss Sunshine,” 23-year-old Cayleigh Hildebrandt who, though wheelchair-bound from spina bifida and then hospitalized with near-deadly complications just days before the race, completed the U.S. Air Force Marathon with the help of her dad, Randy, and a host of cheering and tearful family and friends.
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There was a column on Brookville High School and Wright State University basketball star Courtney Boyd, who saved her younger sister, Whitney Weeden, from the life of heroin addiction, street life and gang associations that nearly killed her.
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And there was the story of University of Dayton basketball player Krystal Byrne and the final hours in her hospital room after a gallant, 11-year battle with cancer that saw her enthusiastically embrace life, fight for eight years until she graduated from college and, even in death, end up an inspiration for many with the ongoing Krystal Cares campaign.
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Wall Street Journal sports columnist Jason Gay won in the over-100,000 circulation category. Archdeacon won the over-100,000 circulation category in 2012 and 2013.
Archdeacon, who also won a national SPJ award for feature writing in 1989, will be honored June 23 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
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