Four join ranks of TPA Golden 50 Award honorees

TPA honored four newspaper industry veterans with the Golden 50 Award during the recent TPA Convention and Trade Show.

The award honors men and women who have displayed exemplary service and selfless contributions to journalism for 50 or more years. The association presented the first Golden 50 Award in 1963 and over the past 60 years, more than 200 men and women have been honored.

Outgoing TPA President Leonard Woolsey presented the awards during the recent TPA Convention and Trade Show.

Honorees are:

Donnis Baggett, born in Livingston in 1952, graduated in 1973 from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches with a bachelor’s degree in communications/journalism and a minor in political science. While at SFA, he served as editor of the Pine Log, the university’s student newspaper. He also served on a committee that rewrote the student government constitution — his first involvement in politics. He called that experience “baptism by immersion in the deep end of the pool.”

He went on to work at newspapers in Livingston and Longview before The Dallas Morning News hired him in 1976. He worked as a reporter, assistant city editor and assistant state editor before being named state editor in 1982. He later was promoted to assistant managing editor and was assigned responsibility for The News’ Sunday edition. While he served in that position The News reached its all-time high in Sunday circulation.

From 1992 to 1994, he served two terms as president of the Press Club of Dallas.

After A.H. Belo Corp., owner of The Dallas Morning News, purchased The Bryan-College Station Eagle in late 1995, Baggett was named publisher and editor of The Eagle. He served eight years on the board of directors for the Texas Press Association in the late 1990s and as president of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association in 2004.

In 2010 he was hired as publisher of the Waco Tribune-Herald, and in 2012 he joined the staff of the Texas Press Association as executive vice president. His primary responsibility is the association’s governmental affairs program.

Baggett is a recipient of the Mayborn Award and is a member of the Texas Newspaper Hall of Fame.

Jim Bardwell is a 50-year veteran of the newspaper business and is currently hairman of the board of the Texas Press Association. He also is a member of the National Newspaper Association and the North & East Texas Press Association, where he served twice as NETPA president. He is also the longest serving TPA board member to date, first taking a seat at the TPA board table in 1997.

He has won numerous regional, state and national press awards over his years in the newspaper industry – such as  Journalist of the Year, Photographer of the Year, and was honored with the Dallas Press Club’s highest award – a “Katie” – for investigative reporting of social and economic inequities in Longview’s predominately minority community. The investigation resulted in sweeping changes and better representation on city boards.

Jim also was honored by the Associated Press for exposing flaws in the National Weather Service’s $1.4-billion NEXRAD weather radar system which would have left many counties in the nation and East Texas – including his home Upshur County – without proper radar coverage and vulnerable to tornadoes and severe weather. The series of stories prompted congressional hearings and a revamp of the system. He also was cited for breaking numerous national stories such as the fatal New Year’s Eve plane crash of teen idol Ricky Nelson and Texas’s largest manhunt in the 1990s following the kidnapping and murder of three East Texas teens and the subsequent escape from jail and recapture of their murderer.

Over the past 50 years in the newspaper industry Jim has served as reporter, photographer, sports editor, news editor, East Texas editor, and publisher of numerous newspapers. He ran a regional printing plant in East Texas for several newspaper chains – starting with Harte-Hanks’ Commerce Journal and Greenville Herald Banner; Echo Publishing’s Sulphur Springs News-Telegram; Cox’s Longview Daily News and Longview Morning Journal; Westward Communications’ Gladewater Mirror and regional printing plant, Big Sandy/Hawkins Journal, Grand Saline Sun, Edgewood Enterprise, Lindale News & Times, and Overton Press and he started East Texas Sports Magazine.

Ten years ago, Jim and his wife Suzanne started their own community newspaper group - Bardwell Ink - with the Gladewater Mirror, Big Sandy/Hawkins Journal, Lindale News & Times, and White Oak Independent.

In the early 1970s, Jim worked on the Longview High School newspaper and yearbook staffs and later Kilgore College newspaper staff and East Texas State University newspaper and magazine staffs as photographer and reporter. But even earlier he started a newspaper while growing up in Dallas and in the 5th grade. He and two friends ran The Daily Planet – that’s right, Clark Kent and Superman played a pivotal role in his career selection. The paper was short-lived, however, due to labor issues and small revenue streams. Subscriptions were 3 cents a week.

He covered the Dallas Cowboys in the 1970s and 80s and the Texas Rangers (his claim to fame was being chased out of the dugout by a bat-wielding manager Billy Martin), and interviewed US presidents and would-be presidents on the campaign trail, as well as covering county pig races.

He even crossed the line a couple of times – tossing his hat into the political arena and being elected to the East Mountain City Council in the 1990s, but lost a bid for mayor and later lost a bid for county commissioner.

Jim’s volunteer work includes serving on the board of directors of the Gladewater Round-Up Rodeo where he was named Director of the Year in 2019, past president of the Gladewater Economic Development Corporation, Gladewater Recycling Program and Gladewater Gusher Days. He is Gladewater Chamber of Commerce treasurer and was named Gladewater Chamber’s Man of the Year in 2022. He served on the Upshur County Child Welfare Board and was president of the Gregg County Crime Stoppers board. Jim also has served on the Gregg County and Hunt County Humane Society’s board of directors. And in his spare time, he helps the Gladewater Rotary Club by building ramps in Gregg and Upshur County through the Texas Ramp Project.

Jim was born in Longview, where his family settled in the 1890s and still live. Jim’s Texas roots go all the way back to 1836 when his ancestor, Solomon B. Bardwell, fought in the Battle of San Jacinto.

Jim lost his lovely bride Suzanne of 47 years in 2022. Suzanne, who taught journalism and was adviser for the student newspaper and yearbook at White Oak High School for 22 years before retiring in 2013 to work with him at the Gladewater Mirror, was his guiding light both in his career and life. Jim’s son Josh is firefighter and is chief of the West Mountain VFD and his daughter-in-law Jennifer is a nurse practitioner hospitalist with Christus Good Shepherd Medical Center.

For 50 years Jim has tried to be the watchdog for the people when it came to local government. He has always reminded government officials that the budget – whether it be city, county or state – is the people’s money.

Bud Kennedy shares this column about his career:

My first newspaper appearance was before I was born.

I was sold for $600 in a Star-Telegram classified “babies for adoption” ad --

Until 1957, that was legal in Texas.

Like a lot of old newshounds, I didn’t grow up with a lot of toys, but we had an old Smith-Corona typewriter.

I would sit and retype stories out of the old Fort Worth Press evening newspaper. My mother even got The Press to bring me down so they could write a story about the 4-year-old boy who could type and read --

We read The Press at home and when we could afford it, the morning Star-Telegram. I sat like a little businessman every morning before school and drank 2 cups of coffee while reading the morning paper.

This was in third grade.

I always read the paper – it brought the whole world to our house every day – and I got to read about the countries in my stamp collection, another lost part of childhood.

Eventually, The Press added a Q-and-A column named Action Desk. I wrote Action Desk and asked if I could come visit.

By then, I was 11. Marvin Garrett remembered me and had me come down and take a tour. The editor, Walter Humphrey, said to come back some day and he’d give me a job.

I took him up on that the week after I graduated from high school. I was 17 and had been a high school sports correspondent for the Star-Telegram – there’s another whole story about that.

The Star-Telegram called when I was at the high school newspaper and wanted me to call in the score and stats from the Arlington Heights game in San Angelo.

But when I called it, the operator transferred me the wrong way and the call taker told me to dictate a story.

So I did.

It came out in the Saturday morning Star-Telegram as “By Bud Kennedy  Star-Telegram Sports Writer.”

The Press gave me my first full-time internship after high school, and by the second week I was covering the Rangers and the Milwaukee Brewers playing Major League Baseball.

I was 17.

I worked at the Press in sports two years and also on the copy desk, where my job was to (1) work the rim, (2) do the newsbriefs packages, (3) edit the op-ed page, (4) edit the Sunday TV magazine and (5) change the ribbons on the wire machines.

I decided to move to Austin and the Statesman hired me at age 19 to cover Austin city high school football. I started the same year as Kirk Bohls.

I always wanted to do page design and wound up working the sports slot.

The layouts caught the eye of a Dallas editor and the Times Herald hired me in 1977.

I designed the sports section for the next year – solid.

And I mean solid. I worked 362 nights of 365.

Then I went to the Dallas News and had three nights off every week.

At the News, I designed the first Sports Day section and covered TCU and pro hockey some. But I’m lucky that I was also the designated copy editor for their columnists, Skip Bayless, David Casstevens and Randy Galloway.

I had already handled Blackie Sherrod’s copy. So along the way I made up my own mind about what made a good and bad column.

I went to the Star-Telegram. worked up to sports editor and then started working in special projects, features and entertainment. I handled the weekend guide and started writing a column named “Eats Beat” about food and restaurants – that’s a sideline to this day.

Several of the older columnists retired at once and I was drafted to become the evening edition lead columnist.

The managing editor said I was picked because I was from Fort Worth, knew all the local news stories and wrote really good memos.

That was November 1987.

I’ve kept the job ever since.

I tell people I’ve had this job nearly 36 years – and I haven’t been fired, sued or shot at.

I’ll let everybody decide whether that means I’ve done a good or a bad job!

Mary Henkel Judson

Also honored this year was Mary Henkel Judson, who was a 2022 honoree. Due to illness she was unable to attend the 2022 convention. Woolsey noted her award signifies 51 years in the newspaper business.

“Newspaper brat” is an accurate description of Mary Henkel Judson, but her official title is editor and co-publisher of the Port Aransas South Jetty.

As the daughter of newspaper publishers “Cap” and “Kitty” Henkel, Judson cut her teeth making rounds with her father as he took photos, conducted interviews and sold ads for what was then the Robstown Record, owned by the late Marion Fore Keach. One of her earliest memories was at the age of 7 walking through the streets of Robstown during the “eye” of Hurricane Carla in 1961, trailing her father as he shot photos of the damage with his Polaroid camera. Her job was to “squeegee” the photos once they magically “developed” right before her eyes.

Judson’s mother was a strong role model and one of the early feminists before the word entered the lexicon. Because of her mother, it never occurred to Judson that she could be limited by her gender.

The family moved to Refugio in 1963 when her father became publisher of the Refugio County Press. There, Judson found her first paying job as a columnist for the Press. As a fifth-grade student, she wrote “Junior Beat” about the comings and goings of elementary and middle school students. She went on to write a similar column as a student at Refugio High School.

Judson attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos and worked for the Buckner family at the San Marcos Record when it was a weekly and again after it transitioned to a daily. She later transferred to the University of Texas, where she majored in journalism. At UT, she was fortunate to be a student of the late Dr. Martin L. “Red” Gibson and Griff Singer. Both were -- and Singer continues to be -- strong and supporting influences.

As a student at UT, Judson secured an internship in the summer of 1974 at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

In the newsroom at the Caller-Times she met her future husband, Murray Judson, a staff photographer. After another semester at UT, Judson went to work for Jim and Helen Tracy at the San Patricio County News in Sinton. She and Murray began dating, and the couple married in April 1976. A month later, they moved to Refugio, where they assumed editor and publisher positions at the Refugio County Press from her parents, who found it a convenient time to retire.

In 1981, the Judsons bought the South Jetty, followed by the purchase of the Refugio County Press, and later were managing partners at the Goliad Advance-Guard.

They made their home in Port Aransas in 1983, soon after the birth of their daughter, Libby, in December 1982. They eventually sold the Press and relinquished their role at the Advance-Guard.

During her days as an active reporter in Port Aransas, Judson covered everything from giant beached whales to the plight of Cuban refugees, contentious city councils and scuffling school boards.

Today, the Judsons serve as co-publishers of the South Jetty.

One of the greatest challenges of Judson’s career was covering Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. Port Aransas was devastated by the category 4 storm that struck between Port Aransas and Rockport. Technology meant the difference between publishing a newspaper or not. During the six weeks from the time the storm struck and when power and internet were restored in Port Aransas, the South Jetty never missed an edition. The first post-hurricane edition was assembled at the home of one of Judson’s brothers in Kingsville, with staff contributing from their evacuation posts throughout the state. After that, the newspaper was published for the next five weeks out of a condo on North Padre Island, 18 miles south of Port Aransas. While the South Jetty office and the Judson’s home suffered relatively minor damage, some staff members’ homes were seriously damaged or destroyed.

In addition to dealing with the many opportunities presented by weekly newspaper publishing, Judson made time to serve the newspaper associations to which the South Jetty belongs.

She served as president of the South Texas Press Association (1979-80) – the second woman to hold that office -- and the Texas Gulf Coast Press Association (1994-95 and again in 2012-13 when she and Murray served as co-presidents). She currently serves as assistant to the president for both STPA and TGCPA.

Judson was first appointed to the Texas Press Association board of directors by the late Fred Barbee, publisher of the El Campo Leader-News, in 1978 when he was president. She served as an elected and appointed director before she was elected second vice president in 1988, the first woman to hold office in the then-110-year-old association. She rose to first vice-president in 1989, and in 1990 became the first woman elected president of TPA.

In 2013, she became the second woman inducted into the Texas Newspaper Foundation Hall of Fame, following TPA’s 118th president, the late Sarah L. Greene, in 2010.

In 2010, she and Murray were named recipients of the Chester Evans Award by the South Texas Press Association in appreciation for long service to the association. In 2016, she was inducted into the Texas Gulf Coast Press Association’s Hall of Honor.

Under the Judson’s leadership, both the Refugio County Press and the South Jetty have been consistent winners in regional, state and national newspaper competitions.

Judson’s career has spanned the eras of newspaper production in hot type, cold type, desktop publishing, the digital age and the advent of social media.

“It’s been and continues to be a great adventure. It’s exciting – sometimes scary – to be sitting on the front row of history as it unfolds not only in our community, but in the newspaper industry as well,” Judson said.

As a newspaper brat, Judson said she has been fortunate to be mentored and taught by so many newspaper legends, too many to name. “However, anything I do well, it is because of them. My shortcomings are my own doing,” Judson said.

From the moment they married, the Judsons have worked side-by-side, navigating their marriage and their careers.

“Our skill sets are complimentary, and I credit Murray for getting us through some tough financial times over the past 45 years. It has been nothing short of a wild adventure,” Judson said.

“It has been an honor to serve our communities through our newspapers, which we continue to do through the South Jetty. It has been, and continues to be, a privilege I treasure to serve both TGCPA and STPA as well as TPA,” she said.