Romeo L. Dougherty was a prominent newspaper profession who was known as the “Dean” of sports and dramatic editors.
Dougherty was a native of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. He migrated to the United States at the age of eight. He got his first start in the newspaper business working at the now defunct “Brooklyn Eye.” He later found employment as a sports writer with the New York Amsterdam News, a Harlem publication founded by George W. Harris.

Black sportswriters had to be versatile. Most of the papers operated with very little funding and did not have a big staff. The writers were often pulled from their original beats to cover other stories. However, Dougherty stood out among most of the writers and editors. Dougherty was known for being an avid reader with a private library that consisted of close to 2,500 books, including literary works by African Americans.

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