COLORADO, USA — Gary Shapiro joined 9NEWS in 1983 as the Boulder Bureau Reporter. In 1989 he became the anchor of the 9NEWS Morning Shows.
Gary announced his retirement after a nearly 40-year career at 9NEWS.
Gary has won numerous awards including Emmys, Best of Gannett and awards from the Colorado Broadcaster's Association. He also won the coveted Edward R. Murrow award for documentary reporting.
During the month of November, Gary will look back on 9 memorable series that he has made in his 39 years at 9NEWS. All of the specials can be found below or on the free 9NEWS+ app for Roku and Fire TV.
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- To download 9NEWS+ on Fire TV search for 9NEWS.
75 Years and a Day in the Park
When Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) turned 75 in 1990, the late, great Linda Benzel and I put together this special.
We went to the park for a day, along with seven or eight 9NEWS photojournalists.
It was a day in the life of the park; following staff, talking to tourists, climbing Long’s Peak.
We featured the issues and the magic of the park, as it headed toward a century since its creation.
Looking back I’m reminded of what a wonderful writer Linda was, and how her voice blended beautifully with the splendor of the park.
The special started with aerial photography shot thru the clouds by the late Sky 9 pilot Peter Peelgrane.
Wild Blue U
In the 1990’s I worked with some of the most talented 9NEWS photographers to shoot behind the scenes at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
We spent nearly a year doing stories on everything from Doolies getting dropped off, to them getting their hair cut, to basic training, to graduation and lots in between.
We featured Air Force Football, class room education, learning to fly and had amazing access to Jack’s Valley, where young cadets received intensive military training.
Again Sky9 Pilot Peter Peelgrane provided incredible footage of the Academy from the air.
When we were shooting the graduation ceremony, President George H.W. Bush, the keynote speaker, said “It’s great to be here at Wild Blue U”.
We immediately said – that’s the name of the special!
Keeper of the Faith
In 1993, Pope John Paul II visited Denver for World Youth Day.
It's a worldwide encounter with the Pope, celebrated about every three years in a different country.
It drew thousands of Catholics to Colorado and was a wonderful event to cover on TV.
Before it happened, 9NEWS sent me, Anchor Mike Landess, and photographers Dave Delozier and Mike Watson to Italy and Poland to do an hour special on the Pope.
We had unprecedented access to the Vatican, thanks to the PR people there and the Denver Archdiocese.
When Dave befriended the Papal Photographer during a story shoot, he in turn invited Dave to shoot video from the stage as the Pope celebrated mass.
We got to meet and talk to the Pope, a highlight of the trip.
Another highlight, we shot a story on the Sistine Chapel at 11:00 at night, when no one else was there.
We did a story on the Papal Gardens and St. Peter’s Basilica.
And we visited the Pope’s childhood home in Poland, and explored the horrors of the nearby Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Horrors that helped shape his life of peace, religion and compassion.
We interviewed a childhood friend, a Jewish child who hid from the Nazi’s in the basement of the Pope’s home.
It was a memorable trip, a wonderful show and a fitting tribute to Pope John Paul II.
Lessons from Normandy
It had been 75 years since the U.S. and other World War II Allied Troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France on D-Day.
We decided to do a special marking the occasion, in a unique way.
There’s a program in Denver, at the time run thru the Police Activities League or PAL.
Jake Schroeder was the Director, and he was and still is very passionate about it.
They would take students from the Denver area to historical locations in France, to teach them about D-Day, which led to the end of the war.
Part of the program involved the students meeting veterans who shared their stories about being there.
That’s how we met Frank DeVita, who worked on a landing craft at Omaha Beach.
His story was amazing, extremely sad, heartfelt, and heroic.
His inspiration is something I will always remember.
RIP Frank.
On Colfax
Colfax Avenue has been called the longest main street in America.
It’s actually Highway 40, which is how people traveled from the east coast to the west coast in this country before the Interstates were built.
Now it’s a quirky, artistic, classic, crime riddled street, and there’s nothing else like it.
Stretching from farm fields east of the metro area, Colfax takes us through Aurora, into Denver, past the State Capitol, through Lakewood and out to the foothills.
In between there is a lot of history, excitement, nostalgia and neon.
Once again, I worked with some awesome photojournalists to document life and death on Colfax Avenue.
Everybody was a Hero: 75 Years After Pearl Harbor
To mark 75 years since the U.S. was attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, Photojournalist Manny Sotelo and I went to Hawaii for the ceremonies.
We documented three Colorado Veterans who survived the attack and went back to remember and honor those who didn’t.
Each had a story to tell that was dramatic and heroic in different ways.
We also featured the Windsor, Colorado High School Marching Band, selected to take part in the pomp and circumstance marking the 75 year remembrance activities.
One of the veterans we featured, Retired Lt. James Downing told us “everybody was a hero that day”.
That became the title of our special.
Touching All Bases: Coors Field Turns 20
People were so excited when the Colorado Rockies came to town.
They played their first games at Mile High Stadium in 1993, but two years later Coors Field Opened its gates.
It was modern, beautiful and it revitalized a part of Denver that used to be old warehouses, people experiencing homelessness, crime and desolation.
We reminded viewers how Coors Field came to be, how it operates to this day, and what it has meant to Colorado.
While the Rockies have fallen on hard times these days, Coors Field is still a fan favorite visited by millions of people each year.
Remember the Sky: 20 Years after 9-11
To mark 20 years since the 9-11 attacks, Photojournalists Manny Sotelo, Tom Cole, John Kuhrt and I revisited what it was like that day.
We remembered the shock, pain and trauma in New York City, Washington, D.C. Shanksville, Pennsylvania and in Colorado.
We met family members of those who were killed, and honored the life of the United Airlines Pilot from the Denver area, who was Captain of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.
We took viewers to the 9-11 Memorial and Museum in New York, a must-see for any visitor to the city.
It was a day that most people remember what they were doing when they heard the news – a day I will never forget.
Injustice Forever: The Story of Amache
Photojournalist Manny Sotelo has been shooting stories on Amache since the 1980’s.
It’s the Internment Camp in southeastern Colorado, where thousands of Japanese Americans from the west coast were unjustly incarcerated after Pearl Harbor was attacked.
It recently became the country’s newest National Historic Site.
But for years, Amache was cared for the operated by a group of Japanese Americans, volunteers and high school students from nearby Granada, Colorado.
Their Dean of Students, John Hopper, made it his mission to keep the historic site maintained and relevant.
The hope is now that the National Park Service is operating Amache, it will get the recognition it deserves in recalling the injustice there – so that it never happens again.
It’s such an important story, that Manny and I wanted to tell.
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