Dave Ward is so beloved by the city of Houston for his 50 years of broadcasting service to the community, that he now has his own honorary named street next to the KTRK studios.
"I want to thank you all, I can't tell you what this means to me," Ward remarked to the crowd of family and friends gathered for the street sign unveiling. "I got my name on a building now, I got my name on a street. I guess a few people in Houston have heard of me."
As of Tuesday August, 8, 2023, the intersection of 3400 Bissonnet Street and 5200 Westchester has a blue marker on top of the red Upper Kirby district street sign that displays "Honorary Dave Ward Place."
The abc13 studios are right there at 3310 Bissonnet. Ward's wife, Laura, helped orchestrate the big honor.
Channel 13 employees of past and present were in attendance to show their love for Houston's anchorman.
"I sat next to Dave Ward for basically, 27 years, and he is more than just a colleague, he was family, he's my friend," former Ward co-anchor Shara Fryer told mikemcguff.com. "And the respect we had for each other, and the respect he showed me as a young person at the time when i came to work here, and now I'm seeing this culmination. There is a Crime Stoppers building named for him. And now a street corner named for him."
"Dave was part of the building and I guess now he's part of the street," joked retired abc13 traffic anchor and "Good Morning Houston" host Don Nelson to mikemcguff.com.
"Long overdue," former KTRK news director Dave Strickland told mikemcguff.com. "Dave Ward is a legend and it's good to see his work as the 'Voice of Houston' immortalized next to the station where he dedicated his career."
"Well deserved, Dave is an icon in the community and a well respected journalist who always dealt with facts straight and forward," former KTRK assistant news director/reporter Don Kobos told mikemcguff.com. "He is highly respected for what he did and what he brought to channel 13."
Right before the big unveiling, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Police Chief Troy Finner and KTRK General Manager Wendy Granato honored Ward.
"For a long time, we've wanted to do something special to honor Dave's contribution to the community," Mayor Turner told the guests. "And we thought an honorary street sign near Channel 13 made the most sense because he spent so much of his personal and professional life right here."
Ward signed-off abc13 as evening anchor in May 2017.
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