Alumni celebrate 85 years of making News

Different times. Different staffs. Common bonds. The top banner on the 85th anniversary tabloid insert to The BG News provided an accurate summary of reunion events held at Bowling Green State University over the weekend of Sept. 30-Oct. 1, 2005.

The shared experiences of working at The BG News created strong bonds between alumni, regardless of when they attended the University. Current News staffers mingled with predecessors from the 1950s through the early 2000s. Recent graduates gave layout tips to current editors. Editors from bygone eras compared notes on being summoned to the University president’s offices—decades apart.

Events began Friday evening, Sept. 30, with an informal reception at The BG News offices in West Hall. Current News staff members snacked on pizza, subs, chips and soda as they chatted with approximately 75 alumni. Notes were compared on campus events of the day, the evolution of computer, photographic and production technology, page design and student internship opportunities. Students asked the alumni about the twists and turns of their careers, with the alumni stressing the importance of networking.

Dick Rees ’77 brought along a scrapbook his wife made for his 50th birthday, featuring yellowed BG News clippings and a letter from legendary basketball coach Bob Knight. Retired photojournalism professor Jim Gordon ’56 talked about his newest digital camera and its myriad features. Several alumni talked about taking road trips with former News adviser and journalism professor Emil Dansker, who pioneered the University’s national political convention internships with political science professor Bill Spragens. Jeff Hindenach ’02, Mizell Stewart ’87 and Tom Walton ’65 all shared professional experiences with the current crop of News staffers.

The following morning, more than 100 persons gathered for social time, then listened to speakers from each decade at a luncheon gathering in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union. Bob Bortel ’77 & ’83, student publications director, recognized the 1988-89 staff, whose paper was selected as the best student newspaper in the nation, and retired journalism professors Gordon and Ray Laakaniemi. Later, Society President Jim Tinker honored Bortel for his 20-plus years of service as the News’ adviser.

Before Saturday’s victorious homecoming football game against Temple University, more than 150 alumni and current News staffers enjoyed a tent party outside Doyt Perry Stadium. The warm, sunny afternoon struck many alumni as a welcome contrast to the blustery, cold weather the previous year.

Lessons learned at The BG News serve journalists for lifetime

When Bob Moser became editor of The BG News for the 2005-2006 school year, he gathered his staff and issued a challenge: Commit yourselves to outstanding journalism or leave the newsroom.

That passion for journalism and for The BG News drives Moser the way it has driven generations of BG News editors and staff members, as evidenced by speakers at the News’ 85th anniversary luncheon Oct. 1, 2005 in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH. From the 1950s to the early 2000s, speakers related the vital role the News played in their formation as journalists and adults.

“We ate, worked and slept at the News,” said Amy Burkett ’90, senior vice president at WLVT-TV, a PBS affiliate in Bethlehem, PA and moderator for the luncheon. “It was our life at that time. It helped us all form our careers.”

Mizell Stewart ’87, former editor of the Tallahassee Democrat, said he regularly recalled what he learned at The BG News while writing in Dayton and Tallahassee, including how to lay out pages, to deal with disappointment, and to get along with peers in a competitive newsgathering environment. At the Biloxi Sun-Herald after Hurricane Katrina, Stewart said, he’s still applying what he learned at The BG News in his daily work. He also said he is thrilled to find a strong student press on campus today.

While she was a student journalist, Kim Larson Pupillo ’93 recalled seeing an interesting man walking down the street. Breaking away from a party she was attending, Pupillo interviewed the man and subsequently wrote a story about him.

“I learned two valuable lessons at The BG News,” Pupillo said. “First, the news never stops, and second, we were like mailmen—just not as well compensated.”

Dallas Brim ’55 said he grew up with the University and The BG News. It was an age of growth for the University, he said, with new buildings going up all over campus, including a Swiss chalet-style Falcon’s Nest.

It was also a time of innocence on campus, Brim said, citing as an example restrictions on when women had to be in their dormitories. Students found ways to circumvent regulations by hiding in bushes for their liaisons. Quoting the late comedian Bob Hope, Brim said, “I remember Bowling Green. That’s where when you kick a bush, it kicks back!”

Janet Romaker ’74 and a staff writer at The Blade in Toledo, recounted a much more serious episode in The BG News’ history. In the post-Watergate era, she said, “We trusted no one.”

“The only things not being covered up were the white fannies of the streakers on campus,” Romaker said. She and three other News staffers learned of voting fraud during student government elections, she said. They saw a good story and investigated it, but became part of the story in the process.

Borrowing identification cards from other students, the “Gang of Four” cast multiple ballots—being careful to stamp the ballots as being from The BG News—then wrote a front-page story detailing how easy it would be to throw an election. For their actions, the students were charged and found guilty of committing election fraud. Threatened with expulsion, they were eventually cleared of charges by the dean of students, ending a 43-day ordeal.

It didn’t occur to the student journalists at the time, Romaker said, but they had the backing of The Blade, the Associated Press and other professional media who were tracking the case. The students exposed problems with the election process and changes were made as a result of their actions, Romaker said, a powerful lesson on the impact of the press.

Ralph Johnson joined the J-School faculty in 1968 after leaving Lindsay-Schaub Newspapers in Illinois. The climax of the 1969-1970 year came on May 4, 1970 as Ohio National Guard troops fired on students at Kent State University, killing four. In the face of anti-war protests and campus closings around the country, Johnson said, BGSU remained open and peaceful.

Johnson said he was very fond of the students who worked at The BG News, recalling them as “incredibly bright people.” He later went on to teach at the University of Wisconsin and Southern Illinois University.

International recognition came to The BG News for its design, said Jeff Hindenach ’02, front-page designer for the San Jose Mercury News. Hindenach shared with luncheon attendees slides of award-winning page designs.

The BG News of the 1960s was a mirror of its day, said Tom Walton ’65, editor of The Blade, from protests on Wooster Street to civil rights marches. The biggest story, though, was President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, which Walton said occurred while his journalism class was visiting the Northwest Signal in Napoleon.

Walton said he’s been working in newspapers for 40 years, but the most important things he learned were at The BG News.

Moser, the current BG News editor, closed by explaining the challenges facing current student journalists. With rising tuition costs, he said, students can earn more money by working in fast-food restaurants than at The BG News. Still, his staff members choose to work at the News, their incredible commitment giving him a lot of comfort.

Moser said the alumni attending the luncheon program all have a debt of gratitude to mentors. He encouraged them to help current staffers, whether through a contribution to the Goodman scholarship, an internship opportunity or becoming a mentor to a student.

Different times. Different staffs. Common bonds.