Former news photographer, native Las Vegan Potter dies

Tuesday, July 3, 2001 | 9:43 a.m.

When Leon Potter ran for the Nevada Assembly in 1966, he championed tougher laws to stem what was then a rising tide of teen consumption of alcohol.

While some thought it strange that the longtime manager of 5th Street Liquors downtown would take up such a cause, Potter was dedicated to finding ways to stop kids from using the adult product he sold.

"It is becoming an everyday occurrence to pick up a newspaper and read about the wild teen drinking parties," Potter said in a June 1966 interview. "There must be some remedy to curb this situation, and I am going to try to find a solution."

Gordon Leon Potter, who as a Review-Journal photographer of the early 1960s shot some of the last mushroom cloud above-ground nuclear tests in Southern Nevada, died Saturday of complications of adult-onset diabetes. He was 62.

Services are pending for the native Las Vegan who graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1957 and attended UNLV when it was known as Nevada Southern University. Palm Mortuary is handling the arrangements.

"My brother loved this town and he did whatever he could to help make it a better place," said Ray Potter, owner of Ray's Beaver Bag black-poweder gun shop on Las Vegas Boulevard, on the site where his family founded 5th Street Liquors in 1945. "He had a lot of friends because he was a pretty easygoing guy."

In his prime, Potter weighed more than 300 pounds and was known for his jovial temperament, Ray said.

Leon Potter was born on May 1, 1939, at the old Las Vegas Hospital on Ninth Street and Ogden Avenue. He and Ray were the only children of Gordon W. Potter and the former Katie Mann.

Gordon opposed Fifth Street being renamed Las Vegas Boulevard and refused to change the name of his liquor store, which was a downtown fixture at Gass Street until it closed in the mid-1980s.

In his early 20s Leon Potter initially declined to join the family business and instead embarked on a career in journalism, accepting a photographer's job at the Review-Journal.

There, he shot above-ground nuclear tests before they were halted by the U.S. government in 1963, as well as Helldorado rodeos.

Once Potter stepped into the ring during a Helldorado bullriding event to get a better angle for the photo, and the bull, after bucking the rider, turned on Potter and chased him. As Potter climbed a fence to safety, the bull nudged him from behind, up and over the fence, hurting Potter's pride more than his body.

Potter once snapped a photo of crooner Bing Crosby getting off a plane at McCarran Air Field -- today McCarran International Airport.

Although his career in journalism was brief, Potter was a longtime, active member of the Las Vegas Press Club. Until his recent illness, he also belonged to a group comprising mostly veteran local journalists who meet informally monthly for what they call "oldtimers luncheons."

After his father died, Potter took over as general manager of the liquor store. At age 27 he made an unsuccessful attempt at Assembly District No. 4 as a Democrat. After the liquor store was turned into a gun shop in the mid-1980s, Leon worked with his brother until he recently became ill and was hospitalized.

In addition to his brother, Potter is survived by four nieces, Dawn Cau, Shiela Burns, Sheryl Peccole and Carolyn Potter, all of Las Vegas.

The family said donations can be made in Leon Potter's memory to the American Cancer Society or the American Diabetes Foundation.