{{Short description|Weekly newspaper in Chino, California}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Chino Valley Champion | image = Front page of Chino Valley Champion of November 1, 1887.jpg | caption = Front page, first issue of the Chino Valley Champion, November 1, 1887 | type = Weekly newspaper | format = Broadsheet | founded = {{start date and age|1887|11|11}} | language = English | ceased_publication = | price = | owners = William Fleet | founder = Richard Gird | publisher = William H. "Will" Fleet | editor = Brenda Dunkle | circulation = 42,600 | headquarters = 13179 Ninth Street<br>Chino, California 91710 | ISSN = | website = {{URL|championnewspapers.com}} }}
The '''''Chino Valley Champion''''' is a weekly newspaper serving the Chino Valley area of Southern California. The paper publishes every Saturday morning and is zoned into Chino and Chino Hills editions.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 8, 1962 |title=The Champion Celebrates Its 75th Anniversary This Week |work=Chino Champion |pages=9}}</ref>
==History== Richard Gird, the founder of Chino, also founded the ''Chino Valley Champion'' in 1887, as a "promotional sheet for the sale of the lands of the Chino rancho and to propagandize his newly established community. It was the first business in the new town.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Frady |first=E.R. |date=November 23, 1945 |title=Bob-O-Link {{!}} The Champion Recently Began It's 59th Year |work=Chino Champion |pages=4}}</ref> Everything that Gird purchased to put out the newspaper, its presses and its type, was bought "direct from the factory."<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 20, 1887 |title=Local Laconics. |work=The Daily Courier |location=San Bernardino, California |pages=5}}</ref>
Although it was announced that "B.U. Mofflit, late of the ''Oakland Tribune,'' will have charge of the newspaper,"<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 22, 1887 |title=Local Laconics. |work=The Daily Courier |location=San Bernardino, California |pages=5}}</ref> John Wasson, a real estate agent in Pomona, was the first editor.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 18, 1887 |title=Our Neighbors. {{!}} Pomona |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=6}}</ref> The first issue of the ''Champion Valley Champion'' came off the press on November 11, 1887.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 11, 1887 |title=Vo1. 1, No. 1 |work=Chino Champion |location=Chino, California |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The ''Los Angeles Herald'' wrote of the first issue that the newspaper was "already setting forth the merits of this delightful location"<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 1, 1888 |title=Notice |work=Los Angeles Herald |pages=2}}</ref> and later that the newspaper was a "well conducted, artistic little sheet."<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 23, 1888 |title=Border-Land. {{!}}The Boundary Lines Of Two Counties {{!}} Pomona and El Chino. |work=Los Angeles Herald |pages=5}}</ref>
Wasson left the paper in 1891 and bought a half interest in the ''Pomona Times.''<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 18, 1891 |title=Notice |work=The Weekly Courier |location=San Bernardino, California |pages=4}}</ref> Edwin Rhodes succeeded his as proprietor.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 11, 1891 |title=Notice |work=Daily Times-Index |location=San Bernardino, California |pages=3}}</ref> He edited the paper for 16 years and later became president of the First National and Chino Savings Bank.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 11, 1927 |title=Congratulatory Message Set by Former Editor |work=Chino Champion |pages=6}}</ref> On the ''Champion''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s tenth birthday, Rhodes wrote: "It is a veritable fact that in the case of Chino a newspaper was started and the town built around it."<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 29, 1897 |title=Notice |work=Chino Champion |pages=7}}</ref>
The ''Champion'' was purchased by Charles A. Gardner in 1906<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 4, 1906 |title=Rhodes Sells The Chino Champion |work=Daily Times-Index |location=San Bernardino, California |pages=8}}</ref> (who dropped the word ''Valley'' from the masthead),<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 8, 1962 |title=Poet, Editor, Gentleman {{!}} Chas. A. Gardner, 1906-07 {{!}} Rhodes' Successor Drops 'Valley' From Original Name Of Paper |work=Chino Champion |page=10}}</ref> John M. Reed in 1907,<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 18, 1907 |title=A Santa Ana Printer Is A Newspaper Owner {{!}} John M. Reed Purchases Entire Interest in the Chino Champion |work=The Register |location=Santa Ana, California |pages=1}}</ref> Ralph C. Homan in 1909,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Reed |first=John M. |date=May 28, 1909 |title=Good-Bye |work=Chino Champion |pages=2}}</ref> and Elmer L. Howell Sr. of Valentine, Nebraska in 1920.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 4, 1920 |title=Champion Is Purchased By E.L. Howell |work=Chino Champion |pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=August 14, 1920 |title=Chino Items |work=The Bulletin |location=Pomona, California |pages=5}}</ref> Three years later Howell was joined by his brother-in-law Charles H. Frady. His son R.E. "Bob" Frady became the business manager in 1925. Howell retired due to ill health and Bob Frady succeeded him in 1938. After his father died in 1943, Bob Frady was left as the paper's sole proprietor.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 8, 1962 |title=Howell-Frady, 1920--1949 {{!}} Nebraska Family Hold Longest Term As Champion Publishers |work=Chino Champion |pages=11}}</ref>
In July 1949, John S. Randolph Jr. and Joseph M. Kaukusch bought the paper.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 15, 1949 |title=New Owners Take Over Immediately |work=Chino Champion |pages=1}}</ref> They sold it about six months later in January 1950, to Harry H. Hobart and his son William W. Hobart, of Wisconsin.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 30, 1949 |title=Father-son Team Succeeds Randolph, Kaukusch Today |work=Chino Champion |pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=January 19, 1950 |work=Beaver Dam Daily Citizen |location=Beaver Dam, Wisconsin |pages=8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hobart |first=William |date=January 6, 1950 |title=Hello Folks |work=Chino Champion |pages=1}}</ref> In 1952, Richard "Dick" E. Blankenburg, former co-publisher of ''The Roseville Press Tribune'', and E.V. Pederson of Grants Pass, Oregon, bought the ''Champion''. At the time the paper's circulation was 1,600.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 16, 1952 |title=Blankenburg Buys Chino Newspaper |work=The Union |location=Grass Valley, California |pages=1}}</ref> In 1956, Allen P. McCombs, a graduate of Stanford University, bought the ''Champion'' from Blankenburg.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 27, 1956 |title=Blankenburgs Announce Sale of Champion to Allen P. McCombs |work=Chino Champion |pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=October 21, 1956 |title=Chino Weekly Purchased by Standford Grad |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=154}}</ref> The sale price was $65,000.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Allen |first=David |date=October 18, 2016 |title=Newspaperman Al McCombs has been a champion for Chino for 60 years |url=https://www.dailybulletin.com/media/20161018/newspaperman-al-mccombs-has-been-a-champion-for-chino-for-60-years/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200502030518/https://www.dailybulletin.com/2016/10/18/newspaperman-al-mccombs-has-been-a-champion-for-chino-for-60-years/ |archive-date=May 2, 2020 |access-date=2025-09-28 |website=Inland Valley Daily Bulletin |language=en-US}}</ref>
thumb|upright|Front page of the ''Chino Champion,'' November 11, 1922, 35 years after its first issueOn May 18, 1971, two-thirds of the paper's office was destroyed in a fire caused by a Molotov cocktail. The damages were estimated at damage at $25,000. McCombs was at a school board meeting when the firebombing occurred. A local law office was also hit, but only $500 damage. McCombs and the attorney were both school board members and were discussing the expulsion of a student.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ault |first=Tony |date=May 19, 1971 |title=Newspaper and Law Offices Destroyed; Arson Suspected |work=Progress-Bulletin |location=Ponoma, California |pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=May 20, 1971 |title=Causes of Two Chino Fires Probed {{!}} School Trustees at Meeting As Their Businesses Burn |work=The San Bernardino County Sun}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=McCombs |first=Al |date=May 26, 1971 |title=Rolltop Is Destroyed But Roundup Goes On |work=Chino Champion |pages=1}}</ref> McCombs suffered minor burns on his hand from opening a door and some historical documents were lost, but the paper's archive survived. The ''Champion'' continued to publish out of a temporary office.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 26, 1971 |title=Champion opens temporary office after big fire |work=Chino Champion |pages=2}}</ref>
In 1994, McCombs merged the paid edition of the ''Champion'' with the paper's freesheet called the ''Chino Valley News.'' The total circulation was 41,000.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 4, 1994 |title='New' Champion invites reader participation |work=Chino Champion |pages=1}}</ref> Bruce Wood took over as publisher in 2006 and McCombs operated the paper for 61 years.<ref name=":0" /> In 2017, he sold it to Will Fleet and Ralph Alldredge, owners of the ''Tracy Press''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mullen |first=Patrick |date=2017-01-26 |title=Former Signal Publisher Buys Chino Paper |url=https://signalscv.com/2017/01/former-signal-publisher-buys-chino-paper/ |access-date=2025-09-28 |website=Santa Clarita Valley Signal |language=en-US}}</ref> At that time the paid circulation was 2,000.<ref name=":0" /> In 2021, McCombs was inducted into the California Newspaper Hall of Fame.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 17, 2021 |title=McCombs, Deuel to Newspaper Hall of Fame |url=https://cnpa.com/mccombs-deuel-to-newspaper-hall-of-fame/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122223114/https://cnpa.com/mccombs-deuel-to-newspaper-hall-of-fame/ |archive-date=November 22, 2021 |access-date=September 28, 2025 |work=California News Publishers Association}}</ref> Alldredge, who also owned the ''Calaveras Enterprise'', died in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=November 13, 2022 |title=In Memoriam: Ralph Alldredge, 79 |url=https://cnpa.com/in-memoriam-ralph-alldredge-79/ |access-date=2025-10-12 |website=California News Publishers Association |language=en-US}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * "[https://www.newspapers.com/image/98403613/?terms=Peerless%2BPress Champion Equipment Typical of That Found in a Small Newspaper]," ''Chino Champion,'' November 8, 1962 *[http://www.ChampionNewspapers.com Champion Newspapers website]
Category:Newspapers published in Greater Los Angeles Category:Mass media in the Inland Empire Category:Mass media in San Bernardino County, California Category:Chino, California Category:Chino Hills, California Category:Newspapers established in 1887 Category:1887 establishments in California Category:Weekly newspapers published in California