TOMBSTONE - The Society of Professional Journalists recognized The Tombstone Epitaph, one of Arizona's oldest newspapers, as a historical site in American journalism in a ceremony here yesterday.

The newspaper, published since May 1, 1880, made Wyatt Earp and the gunfight at the OK Corral famous when it telegraphed the story of the feud to newspapers around the country. The newspaper also spawned the mottos "No Tombstone Is Complete Without Its Epitaph" and "The Town Too Tough To Die," in reference to Tombstone's unwillingness to become a ghost town.

The SPJ also recognized the newspaper for its contribution to Arizona journalism and its support of the University of Arizona's Journalism Department.

Jim Patten, head of the Journalism Department, nominated the newspaper at the suggestion of UA students. He said it struck him as odd that the newspaper had not been recognized before this.

"This newspaper is a national treasure," he said, "an icon of the Old West."

The relationship between The Epitaph and the UA's Journalism Department is a prime example of real journalism education, said Steve Rynkiewicz, SPJ secretary-treasurer and real estate editor for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Jaime Gutierrez, special assistant to UA President Manuel Pacheco, attended the ceremony in place of Pacheco, who was in Washington, D.C. Gutierrez said The Epitaph -UA relationship goes back to 1926, when William B. Kelly bought the newspaper. The paper was operated by his son, William H. Kelly, a UA alumnus and former editor of the Arizona Daily Wildcat.

Gutierrez called the Journalism Department's work on The Tombstone Epitaph important. He said it was a unique relationship and one that should continue.

The Tombstone Epitaph is, in essence, two newspapers, Rynkiewicz said. The National Tombstone Epitaph is a monthly news magazine of Western history, and the local edition of The Epitaph is a 1,200 circulation, semimonthly newspaper produced by UA journali sm students. The national edition reaches readers in all 50 states and 31 foreign countries, while the local edition serves Tombstone.

The Journalism Department got permission to use the The Epitaph name to publish a local edition of the paper in 1975, when UA professors George Ridge and Philip Mangelsdorf penned an agreement on the back of an envelope with owner Harold O. Love.

Patten said The Epitaph is not just a school newspaper or a lab experiment.

"It is a real newspaper that serves a real audience who let us know if we make a mistake," Patten said.

Rynkiewicz said, "The timing of this award is important. The Board of Directors (of SPJ) would like to see this program continue."

In April 1994, a recommendation to close the Journalism Department was forwarded from a College of Social and Behavioral Sciences committee to UA Provost Paul Sypherd. Sypherd chose not to address the recommendation directly, and instead assigned it to th e Commission on Communication and Information Sciences for further research.

Sypherd's office recently released a memo that said the provost was "inclined" to recommend against the commission's study, which supported the merging of the Journalism Department with other information-type departments on campus.

Epitaph publisher Wallace Clayton had said if the Journalism Department at the UA is phased out, the local edition of the newspaper will revert back to the corporation that owns the national corporation and will likely no longer be published. Clayton was ill and could not attend yesterday's ceremony.

Wildcat reporter Charles Ratliff is also the spring 1996 editor in chief of the local edition of The Epitaph.