A list of the APSE presidents (affiliation is consistent with time presidency was assumed).
| Year | President | Newspaper |
| 1974-75 | Dave Smith | Boston Globe |
| 1975-76 | Dave Smith | Boston Globe |
| 1976-77 | Earl Cox | Louisville Courier-Journal |
| 1977-78 | Joe McGuff | Kansas City Star |
| 1978-79 | Wayne Fuson | Indianapolis News |
| 1979-80 | Bill Millsaps | Richmond Times-Dispatch |
| 1980-81 | Hubert Mizell | St. Petersburg Times |
| 1981-82 | Hal Bodley | Wilmington News Journal |
| 1982-83 | Van McKenzie | Atlanta Journal and Constitution |
| 1983-84 | Vince Doria | Boston Globe |
| 1984-85 | Jay Searcy | Philadelphia Inquirer |
| 1985-86 | Herb Stutz | Los Angeles Times |
| 1986-87 | Charles Cooper | San Francisco Examiner |
| 1987-88 | Henry Freeman | USA Today |
| 1988-89 | Bill Dwyre | Los Angeles Times |
| 1989-90 | Steve Doyle | Orlando Sentinel |
| 1990-91 | John Rawlings | San Jose Mercury News |
| 1991-92 | Jeff Wohler | Oregonian |
| 1992-93 | Sandra Bailey | New York Times |
| 1993-94 | Dale Bye | Kansas City Star |
| 1994-95 | Paul Anger | Miami Herald |
| 1995-96 | Bill Huffman | Arizona Republic |
| 1996-97 | Paul Bowker | Cedar Rapids Gazette |
| 1997-98 | Tim Ellerbee | New Orleans Times-Picayune |
| 1998-99 | Bob Yates | Dallas Morning News |
| 1999-2000 | Tracy Dodds | Cleveland Plain Dealer |
| 2000-01 | Tim Burke | Palm Beach Post |
| 2001-02 | Don Skwar | Boston Globe |
| 2002-03 | John Cherwa | Tribune Company |
| 2003-04 | Bill Eichenberger | Newsday |
| 2004-05 | Jerry Micco | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
| 2005-06 | Glen Crevier | Minneapolis Star Tribune |
| 2006-07 | Jim Jenks | Philadelphia Inquirer |
| 2007-08 | Mike Fannin | Kansas City Star |
| 2008-09 | Lynn Hoppes | Orlando Sentinel-ESPN.com |
