Newspaper Foundation names Towery, Hale, Hanks and Harte to Hall of Fame

Texas Newspaper Foundation proudly announces the naming of newspapermen Ken Towery, Leon Hale, Houston Harte and Bernard Hanks as inductees in the Texas Newspaper Foundation Hall of Fame for the year 2015.

The induction ceremony will be conducted during the Texas Press 2015 Midwinter Conference and Trade Show at Moody Gardens Hotel in Galveston on Jan. 23. 

A selection committee met Nov. 6 and picked four exemplary individuals for 2015 from a field of 24 nominees. Selection committee members included Chairman Phil Major, The Community News, Aledo; Greg Shrader, Lufkin News; Russel Skiles, Lamesa Press Reporter; Alvin Holley, Polk County Publishing Company, Livingston; and Jim Moser, Moser Community Media LLC, Brenham.

Austin-based Texas Newspaper Foundation created the hall of fame in 2006 to induct annually up to four individuals credited with outstanding achievements and contributions to the newspaper industry and to their communities. The first four inductees — Roy Eaton, Alfred H. Belo, James Roberts and Staley McBrayer — were named to the hall of fame in January 2007.

KEN TOWERY

A reporter and managing editor of the Cuero Daily Record from 1951 through 1956, Roland Kenneth “Ken” Towery, 91, received a Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting in 1955 for his series exposing the Texas Veterans Land Board scandal. The series brought to light a multi-tentacled scheme that led to the indictment, conviction and sentencing of long-serving Land Commissioner James Bascom Giles for conspiracy to commit theft.

Today, a collection of Towery’s newspapers and clippings remind Texas General Land Office visitors of the importance of public oversight. The collection has been on display at the land office since 2003. Towery’s diligence in obtaining independent confirmation of critical facts and care in assembling each story in the series are evident. 

Towery, a U.S. Army artilleryman stationed on Corregidor in 1942, was wounded in action, taken prisoner by the Japanese Army and transported to a prison camp in Manchuria. It was there that his fellow prisoners of war entrusted him to be the man to dole out equal portions of gruel, earning him the title, “The Chow Dipper.” 

After the prison camp was liberated three years later, Towery was transported home to Texas and hospitalized repeatedly over several years for treatment of a stubborn tuberculosis infection he contracted as a prisoner of war. He wrote a book published in 1994 titled, “The Chow Dipper,” recounting his war experiences and post-war professional life as a civilian. 

In 1963, Towery left the newspaper business to serve in various capacities on the staff of U.S. Sen. John Tower. Also, in Washington, D.C., Towery served as a deputy and assistant director of the U.S. Information Agency and as a board member and chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

During his newspaper career in Texas, in addition to his time at Cuero, Towery also served stints as publisher of the Belton Journal, the Lockney Beacon, the Crosbyton Review and the Floyd County Hesperian-Beacon in Floydada.

LEON HALE

Leon Hale, a longtime feature columnist for the Houston Chronicle, delighted a wide readership with his reflections on life in Texas, and rural Texas in particular, for nearly 60 years. 

Hale, 93, the son of a storekeeper and traveling salesman, as a child lived in 22 different houses in nine different West Texas towns stretching from Fort Worth to Lubbock. He graduated from Eastland High School in 1939 and enrolled at Texas Tech. In World War II, he served three years in the U.S. Army Air Corps before returning to Tech, where he earned a journalism degree in 1946. 

He worked as assistant editor for the Texas A&M University Extension Service, 1947-47, as farm and ranch editor for the Houston Post, 1948-52, magazine editor for Humble Oil & Refining Co., 1953-55; “roving Texas columnist” for the Houston Post, 1956-83; and as columnist for the Houston Chronicle from 1983 to March 2014. A repository of his work is housed in the University of Houston Libraries, Special Collections.

Hale also served as a part-time instructor at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, contributed to Texas Parade magazine, wrote free-lance articles and authored 10 books. His awards include recognitions by the Headliners Foundation of Texas, the Associated Press and UPI wire services. He also received the Jesse H. Jones Award for fiction from the Austin-based Texas Institute of Letters for one of his two novels and the Lon Tinkle Award for Excellence Sustained Throughout a Career.

In a March 16, 2014, Chronicle article, Hale wrote about his move from the Houston Post in 1984 to crosstown rival, the Houston Chronicle. “The only doubt I had about taking a job at the Chronicle, I wasn’t sure the management there understood how old I was. Also, I had some significant limitations as a newspaper columnist. I told Loftis (Chronicle Editor Jack Loftis), ‘Look, I’m 63, I’ve got friends five years younger who have already retired. Also, I’m not one of your celebrity columnists. I don’t make speeches, I don’t play golf in charity tournaments. I don’t like to have my picture taken. I don’t judge chili cook-offs.’ “ None of those issues, Hale wrote, made any difference. 

When he reached age 65, Hale asked the newspaper management if they wanted to keep him. The answer was yes. Every five years thereafter, Hale popped the same question and it was never suggested that he retire. From his porch swing in the tiny Fayette County hamlet of Winedale, Hale shared his observations and personal insights to the delight of a readership spanning Texas and reaching far beyond.

HOUSTON HARTE

Houston Harte was born at Knob Knoster, Missouri, in 1893. He attended the University of California for one year, returned to Missouri and graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 1915. 

He joined the Missouri Republican in Boonville, quickly became the newspaper’s business manager and moved up to editor and publisher. He joined the U.S. Army in 1918 and rose to the rank of captain before mustering out in 1920. He headed to Texas that year and purchased the San Angelo Evening Standard, later acquired the San Angelo Morning Times and merged the two into the San Angelo Standard-Times. 

His newspaper was the first to report many important oil industry developments, such as the completion of Santa Rita No. 1 and the discovery of the Yates Oil Field, and the first to hire an oil editor. Harte was named to the Petroleum Hall of Fame in Midland, but when notified of the honor, he said, “I feel embarrassed about this. No newspaperman who is doing his job should be winning popularity contests.”

Harte met Bernard Hanks in 1927 at a newspaper meeting at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas. The two partnered to purchase the Lubbock Plains Journal, converted it to daily publication and later acquired the Lubbock Avalanche, merging the two properties to create the Lubbock Avalanche Journal.

Harte-Hanks Newspapers Inc. went on to purchase interests in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, The Paris News, The Big Spring Herald and The Marshall News. Hanks died in 1948 and Harte lived until 1972. By that time, the corporation included 19 daily newspapers, including the San Antonio Express-News, and several non-daily newspapers with a combined circulation of more than 600,000 in six states. The corporation was rebranded Harte-Hanks Communications Inc. and became a major holder of newspapers, broadcast stations and direct mail services. 

After Harte died, the company began to sell off properties, but the core of the newspaper group, the dailies in San Angelo, Abilene, Wichita Falls and Corpus Christi, held together and were the last to be divested, selling to the E.W. Scripps Company in 1997.

Harte was a major contributor toward the preservation of historic Fort Concho in San Angelo and of the development and expansion of San Angelo Junior College, now Angelo State University, where the Houston Harte University Center was named in his honor. A portion of U.S. Highway 67 in San Angelo is named the Houston Harte Expressway. 

Harte was a member of the federal Relief Commission in the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He became a confidant of Lyndon B. Johnson during his tenure as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Their friendship continued through Johnson’s tenure in the U.S. Senate and the Johnson vice presidency and presidency.

Harte wrote an award-winning book of Old Testament stories titled, “In Our Image,” published by Oxford University Press in 1949.

BERNARD HANKS

Born Sept. 19, 1884, in Dallas, Bernard Hanks was the son of a Baptist minister. The family moved to Abilene in 1892 and at age 8 Hanks began his newspaper career as a carrier of the Abilene Daily Reporter, managed by George Anderson.

Hanks attended Baylor University, returned to Abilene and took a job at a grocery store. When the store threatened to cut his wages, Hanks went to work for Anderson at the Reporter as a bookkeeper and business manager.

During the 1920s, Anderson took control of Abilene Printing and Stationery Co. and let Hanks manage the newspaper. Hanks operated the newspaper with this creed:

1. A newspaper’s prime business is news. It should get news and get it straight.

2. The paper is not to use its power to reward friends or punish opponents.

3. A newspaper should assume responsibility for leadership; it should invest itself in causes that advance the area it serves.

4. A newspaper should have courage.

5. A newspaper should serve the people.

In 1923, Hanks met Houston Harte, owner of the San Angelo Standard-Times, during a newspaper meeting at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas. The meeting resulted in a partnership between the two newspapermen that purchased the Lubbock Plains Journal. Within a few months, the newspaper evolved into a daily publication. Eventually, the Plains Journal took over its rival, the Lubbock Avalanche to become the Lubbock Avalanche Journal. 

That was the beginning of a long, profitable relationship. The men eventually sold the Lubbock newspaper, and it was their next purchase of the Corpus Christi Times that cemented their business bonds.  During the ensuing 10 years, Harte-Hanks Newspapers Inc. would assume ownership positions in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, The Paris News, The Big Spring Herald and the Marshall News.

In 1926, Hanks published the first edition of the Abilene Morning News, the first morning paper in Texas west of Fort Worth and east of El Paso. In 1937 Hanks merged the two newspapers into the Abilene Reporter-News, publishing morning and afternoon editions. 

Harte-Hanks Communications Inc. would grow to include newspapers, radio and television stations, cable television operations and direct marketing services. At its peak, Harte-Hanks owned 26 dailies and 46 other papers, having expanded through the Southwest to the West Coast and to several northeastern cities. In 1972, Harte-Hanks became publicly traded. In 1983, Harte-Hanks President Bob Marbut said, “There was a time when Harte-Hanks thought nothing above the Red River was worth buying.”

Behind the scenes, Hanks supported the communities his newspapers served and helped Abilene to secure a number of important businesses and government operations, including Dyess Air Force Base. He raised horses in Abilene, and two of his thoroughbreds ran in the Kentucky Derby. He believed a newspaper should “Always keep an eye out for the little fellow; the big ones can look after themselves.”

Hanks died Dec. 12, 1948, but the company he helped create and build continued to thrive. His daughter, Patty, married A.B. “Stormy” Shelton, who served as publisher of the Abilene Reporter-News and helped lead Harte-Hanks.