Dick Kanellis

Dick Kanellis was a reporter at newspapers across the country before being lured away from the Las Vegas Sun to do publicity for the Sahara in Œ59.Will Schwartz was one of the builders and owners of the old Moulin Rouge , leaving his job as head of the Dunes card room to join Prell.

On February 6, 1961, Dick Kanellis, ten year newspaperman who joined the Hotel Sahara publicity and public relation staff in October, 1959, was appointed Hotel Sahara Publicity Director.Kanellis, 29, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, graduated from the State University of Iowa School of Journalism, B.A., in February, 1954.He held positions as reporter, photograph and entertainment editor on the Iowa City Daily Iowan; Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette; Rochester (Minn) Post-Bulleting; Rockford (Ill) Star and the Las Vegas Sun.A boxing enthusiast, Kanellis held the welterweight Mississippi valley title in 1948-1950, and the Iowa State A.A.U. middleweight 1952, and was licensed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission as a referee and a judge.The Sahara's publicity and promotion department was headed by Herb McDonald, with Kanellis and John Romero (formerly Las Vegas Review Journal sports editor), co-ordinated and directed publicity for the Sahara, The Mint, and Lucky Strike. (Kanellis would later marry singer Connie Francis and was divorced from her just three months after the wedding.) The Sahara's publicity and promotion department was headed by Herb McDonald, with Kanellis and John Romero (formerly Las Vegas Review Journal sports editor), co-ordinated and directed publicity for the Sahara, The Mint, and Lucky Strike. (Kanellis would later marry singer Connie Francis and was divorced from her just three months after the wedding.)