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TPA elects Chad Ferguson as 2011-12 President
Download a PDF of the president's bio at: http://texaspress.com/images/stories/newsreleases/chadferguson2011.pdf
Note: There was mistake in the bio that was released earlier this morning (July 26) and the article that ran in the July issue of the Texas Press Messenger. Please use this corrected version of the president's bio.
 Chad Ferguson, editor and publisher of The Banner Press Newspaper in Columbus, was elected the 134th president of the Texas Press Association on June 18 at TPA’s 132nd Annual Summer Convention in Rockwall. His term officially began July 1.
He succeeds Bob Brincefield, former vice president and publisher of the Brownwood Bulletin, who retired in June after serving 50 years in the industry.
Ferguson began his newspaper career at the age of 10 as a paperboy for The Facts in Clute. Two years later he was sharing a sports column with his father, George, who was sports editor of the newspaper.
He later covered Little League sports for the Altus Times-Democrat (Okla.) between his freshman and sophomore years in high school, and later returned to that newspaper after graduation from J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson to cover the Altus Junior College baseball team where he attended school on an athletic scholarship.
His college baseball coach was Glenn Royal, brother of legendary University of Texas Football Coach Darrell Royal. Prior to college, he was a member of a Dallas summer baseball team that played in the Connie Mack World Series in 1972.
Ferguson never received a college degree — he left to take a full-time position with the Richardson Daily News as sports editor.
In 1978, after a six-year stint at the Daily News, he took a job as news editor of the Seminole Sentinel, where he was able to work under someone he considers a true mentor and longtime friend, Marshall Day.
It was Day who taught Ferguson the many other facets of the newspaper industry, especially the advertising side — the dollars and cents of the profession.
After three years Ferguson moved to Alvin, where he was managing editor of the Alvin Sun and Alvin Advertiser.
Soon after moving to Alvin, he left the newspaper industry to work for a company in College Station that helped produce athletic programs for Texas A&M University, as well as create and publish a statewide 4-H magazine.
That didn’t last long, however, as he quickly returned to his first love, newspaper publishing. He took a job as managing editor and advertising sales representative of the Lufkin Advertiser, which was under the co-ownership of Alvin Holley.
It was in 1985 that Ferguson moved to Columbus to join his father and cousin in a start-up, The Banner Press Newspaper, covering Austin, Colorado and Fayette counties.
Ferguson and his wife, Ramona (“Bebo”), became part owners of the newspaper in 1988.
During his tenure, the newspaper has won numerous awards sponsored by the Texas Press Association, South Texas Press Association and Texas Gulf Coast Press Association.
Ferguson is the current president of TGCPA and serves on the board of STPA, of which he also is a past president. His wife is also a past president of both TGCPA and STPA and is a current board member of TGCPA.
In 2009 the Texas Girls Coaches Association honored Ferguson as its Sports Writer of the Year for a second time. He first received the award in 1992.
He has also been honored by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches as the recipient of its Golden Hoops Award for sports coverage on two occasions: the first following the 1989-90 season and again in 2008.
As a longtime member of the Texas Sports Writers Association, he actively does his best to promote athletes from his tri-county coverage area.
Ferguson and his wife have two children: Chris, 36, and London, 29. Chris and his wife, Lina, are the parents of their two grandchildren, Dylan, 15, and Hailey, 12. London is the mother of their third grandchild, Zoey, 4 months. |
