Don Ultang (March 23, 1917[1] – September 18, 2008) was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer.
Born in Fort Dodge, Iowa on March 23, 1917, Ultang was raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He attended the University of Iowa, earning a degree in economics in 1939. Shortly after his graduation from college, he was hired by the Des Moines Register. After being hired by The Register, he signed up to participate in a government-funded pilot training program and served in the United States Navy during World War II as a flight instructor.[2]
After returning to civilian life, he convinced The Register to purchase a Beechcraft Bonanza to be used for aerial photography. As the paper's only pilot, he would use the plane to take panoramic photos of news events such as a train wreck or flood from the plane using his Speed Graphix camera. Ultang would fly the plane solo over the target at a few hundred above the ground, keep his plane in a 45 to 50 degree banking turn and about 20 miles per hour above stall speed, briefly release one of his hands from the controls for about five seconds to take the desired sequence of photographs, and retake the controls to circle around for another series of shots.[2][3]
A portfolio of Ultang's photographs was printed in U.S. Camera, 1954 together with works by Ansel Adams, in an annual work published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce.[4] In 1991, the Iowa State University Press published a book of his work, "Holding the Moment: Mid-America at Mid-Century."[5] Ultang retired after 20 years at the Register and took a job at an insurance company.[3] In recognition of his pioneering career, Ultang was inducted into the Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame in 1991.[6]
After Ultang retired, and spent his winters in New Mexico, he began a second career taking nature and landscape photographs until a few years before his death. Ultang died in his sleep on September 18, 2008 aged 91.[3]
In 1952, Ultang and fellow Des Moines Register photographer John Robinson were awarded the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for Photography, the same year that Herman Wouk won for his novel The Caine Mutiny.[7] The prize was awarded to recognize a series of images showing a violent on-field assault against an African American player during an American college football game played on October 20, 1951 in Stillwater, Oklahoma between Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University and the visiting Drake University Bulldogs. White American player Wilbanks Smith placed a hard hit on Drake's Johnny Bright, breaking his jaw, in an incident caught in a series of images taken by Ultang that earned national attention when they appeared on the front page of the Register. The event came to be known as the "Johnny Bright Incident".[2]
Ultang was one of 18 recipients of the 1952 National Headliner Awards ceremonies held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, winning in the "Sports action picture" category, together with John Robinson, for their photographs of the "Johnny Bright Slugging".[8]