Vol.17 | No. 34 | Thursday, August 25, 2022 | Serving Press and State Since 1873 8 3 Guest Column: By Mark Buffalo Sports Chronicle,tonewspaperBrinkleynewspapersmentorsthankfuleditorforinsoldHelenaWorldLLC. Continued on Page 2 Arkansas Press Association Publisher Weekly
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“The Gala is both a celebration of a free press and individuals who have given so much to support journalism,” said APA Executive Director Ashley Kemp Wimberley. “We have been planning this event for a long time, but the pandemic set us back. This night will be even more special now that we can meet again in person.”
“It was 1998 and a friend of mine had gone to a Passion Party in Saline County,” Parker said. “I was like, ‘what is this?’ And she said, ‘you need to write about it.’”
Author, freelancer takes on sportswriter job in Pine Bluff
First Arkansas Press Freedom Gala set for October 20 Suzi Parker has a bucket list. Growing up, she aspired to be a steamy romance novelist like Jackie Collins and a journalist like Barbara Walters.
APA is excited to host the first Arkansas Press Freedom Gala on Thursday, Oct. 20 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. “Celebrating Supporters of Democracy” is the theme.
“I couldn’t have made it up,” Parker said. “A woman leaned over to me at this Passion Party and told me their husbands thought they were at Bible study. A light bulb went off in my head, having grown up in the South with a church on every corner. I started thinking, if they’re lying to their husbands about Wednesday night, what’s happening on Saturday night and what’s happening on Sunday afternoon? What is this double life? So I wrote a book about it called ‘Sex in the South: Unbuckling the Bible Belt’, which was published in 2003. That was my first book, out of the seven I have written, almost twenty years ago.” Bucket list—check. A long-time freelance journalist and author originally from Pine Bluff, Parker returned home this month to check off another item from her bucket list––sportswriting.
Governor Asa Hutchinson will receive the 2020 Headliner of the Year Award and Hunter Yurachek, vice chancellor and director of athletics at University of Arkansas, will receive the 2021 Headliner of the Year Award. This award is presented to those who have brought the most positive headlines to the state of Arkansas. Distinguished Service Awards, for those who have made significant contributions to journalism, will be presented to Craig Renaud and his late brother Brent Renaud, documentary
“Unfortunately, I graduated at a time when women really weren’t “It was 1998 and a friend of mine had gone to a Passion Party in Saline County,” Parker said. “I was like, ‘what is this?’ And she said, ‘you need to write about it.’” “Unfortunately, I graduated at a time when women really weren’t welcome in the locker room. I graduated college in 1991, and I graduated with my Master’s in journalism from UALR in 1994. I would have had to cover women’s sports at that time. My mom thought I might end up being a sports information director, or something like that. But other opportunities at the time took me to different places.” “As a college student, I interviewed Bill Clinton when he was governor about his education policies, and that plays a big role in my journey,” Parker said. When Clinton announced he was running for president, Parker volunteered in the Clinton campaign for three months to see if she wanted to go down that path. “I decided no, I wanted to cover politics. I did not want to be the person writing all the speeches. I wanted to be an investigative Shereporter.”got an internship at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 1993 and stayed on with them until 1996, writing feature obituaries and other feature news stories.
“I started my freelance career because Clinton was in the White House and I wanted to cover politics,” Parker said. “So I just plunged in and became a freelance journalist. It was right before the Monica Lewinsky scandal.” She covered all things Clinton, scandals and day-to-day business alike, including breaking news for the Economist regarding the Clinton Presidential Library. “It’s like if he hadn’t become president, I wouldn’t have had a career. It’s weird.” Parker won an SPJ award for investigative reporting about Clinton’s Arkansas administration. “I dove into the Arkansas Department of Corrections sending prison plasma that was tainted with hepatitis C to Canada under Clinton when he was governor. It was a pivotal story for me that came out just days before the Lewinsky scandal broke. I covered a lot of the Whitewater trials. I covered the Susan McDougal trial. I covered the Democratic National Convention in 2000. I covered it all, including Hillary Clinton’s run against Donald Trump in 2016.”
Surprisingly, through all of the years of covering the Clintons, Parker would not consider that bucket list item complete. She has only met the Clintons a handful of times: one sit-down interview, several
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Arkansas Publisher Weekly 2 August 25, 2022 Continued from Page 1
“I grew up in Pine Bluff,” Parker said. “When I was about three, my mom and I would go on walks. It’s one of my earliest memories. She would pick up a newspaper and start reading it to me. This went on for years, so I have this weird connection to the Pine Bluff Commercial.”
Parker never played sports, but seriously considered going into sports journalism.
“It was kind of a weird thing,” she said. “In college I covered sports for the Arkansas State University newspaper, The Herald Sportswriting is something I’ve always wanted to do, but I’ve never really done it professionally. When the opportunity came up, it was like another great journalism adventure.”
Author, freelancer takes on sportswriter job in Pine Bluff
Despite never having worked for her hometown newspaper during her 30-yearcareer, Parker called them up a few months ago when she decided to move back to her old stomping grounds. She was looking for freelance work, but ended up taking the full-time sports reporter job.
For Parker, the opportunity to cover sports as a full-time reporter in Southeast Arkansas was too good to pass up. “Basketball is probably my favorite sport to cover, but Southeast Arkansas football in an area of the state where football has a long, long history. I thought. Sure. Yes, I have to do it.” Some of her friends questioned her foray into sports, but for Parker it’s never been just about the stats. “Something has to build those stats,” she said. “Something has to build those numbers, and it’s really the people behind those numbers. The players, the coaches, the communities who are building teams that are so interesting to me.”
The company announced that current subscriptions would be honored and that new rates to renew, along with new single copy retail prices, would be
“We are committed to providing Monroe County with a first-class community newspaper with high quality local journalism,” Bagley said, “but that requires an economic model that relies more heavily on subscription revenue. We are confident the residents of Monroe County will support a high-quality communityoriented publication.”
Brinkley newspaper sold to Helena World Chronicle, LLC.
Helena World Chronicle, LLC, the parent company of The Helena World owned by Chuck Davis and Andrew Bagley, announced last week they had reached an agreement to purchase the assets of Hayden Taylor Publishing, which publishes the Monroe County Herald.
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Overbey most recently worked for Evening Post Publishing Newspaper Group in South Carolina where she was publisher and advertising director of the Aiken Standard, The Star of North Augusta and Fort Gordon News (Georgia) for six years.
The new owners intend to rebrand the newspaper as the Monroe County Argus. The Brinkley Argus was founded in 1883 and the Monroe County Sun in 1877, and the new brand is meant to honor the legacies of those two papers.
Rhonda Overbey, former advertising and marketing director at the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway, is the new regional publisher and advertising director for The Saline Courier in Benton and the Malvern Daily Record
First OctoberGalaPressArkansasFreedomsetfor20
“I’m thrilled to be back home in Arkansas doing the work I love,” Overbey recently told The Saline Courier. “I’m listening to advertisers. I’m listening to readers and I’m listening to non-readers and everyone agrees that a good newspaper just makes a community stronger.” She added “For 146 years, Saline County has trusted our newspaper. With internet availability at its peak, more people than ever have access to our news and advertising messages and we want to meet that information challenge.”
“Hayden took on a challenge few would have attempted to tackle in our current era,” Bagley said, “but his commitment to maintaining a community newspaper in Monroe County is to be applauded.”
Taylor said he was glad he was able to find a buyer who understands the importance of a newspaper to a small, Delta community. “I am glad that a committed and capable group will continue to serve Monroe County’s local news needs,” he Davissaid. said the company is committed to local journalism and believes that Brinkley, Clarendon and the surrounding communities deserve a newspaper that keeps them informed about what is happening in their hometowns.
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Arkansas Publisher Weekly 3 August 25, 2022
Overbey will coordinate and oversee all aspects of the operations of these newspapers, as well as advertising operations in the Marianna and Forrest City markets. She will have additional responsibilities at Horizon Publication news organizations outside Arkansas.
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“Chuck and I have an immense respect for history and wanted to signal to the community that we intend to provide the kind of quality local journalism that those two publications provided for over a century,” Bagley said. Bagley is also an instructor of political science and history at Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas. When Hayden Taylor purchased the assets of the Central Delta Argus-Sun from the Jacques family in 2017, he rebranded the publication. Taking over at the age of 19, Taylor renamed the paper the Monroe County Herald.
filmmakers best known for their characterdriven, cinema verité documentaries like “Dope Sick Love,” “Last Chance High,” “Off to War” and “Meth Storm.” Brent Renaud was the first American journalist killed while covering the war in Ukraine. Golden 50 Service Awards, for those who have labored 50 or more years in the Arkansas newspaper industry, will be presented to columnist John Brummett and Walter E. Hussman, Jr., publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Chairman of WEHCO Media.
The Gala begins at 6 p.m. with a cocktail reception, and the dinner and program will be at 7 p.m. See page 9 for more information. Visit arkansaspress.org/ events to purchase tickets.
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unveiled soon. New advertising rates will begin with the first publication after the change in ownership. The newspaper will also change to Wednesday distribution, effective August 31.
New publisher in Benton, Malvern
NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS ARKANSAS NEWSPAPER CONNECTION Are you hiring? Let us know! The Arkansas Newspaper Connection is a weekly newsletter published by APA connecting freelance and independent writers, editors, photographers and designers with Arkansas newspapers in need. The publication also lists available job openings and other opportunities at Arkansas newspapers and associate member organizations.
Author, freelancer takes on sportswriter job in Pine Bluff
“The only sit-down interview I’ve ever had with Bill was the college newspaper interview,” she said. “The rest of the time I’ve been standing up yelling a question at Bill and Hillary so it’s still on my bucket list. I’d love to sit down with both of them. My goal is get that done before one of us is dead. It’s something that I need to do to close out my Clinton chapter. As far as Hillary goes, I literally think I’ve interviewed her once. I asked her a couple of questions as she was coming out of First United Methodist Church in Little Rock when I went to church there.” Bucket list—almost.
Parker made another career turn in 2017 to do writing and social media management in corporate America. “I got out of journalism. For four and a half years, you didn’t see my byline very often. Not in newspapers or on websites.”
Continued from Page 2 press pool interviews and a few questions
Dreams do come true. You just believe in them and I know people think it’s so strange I’m doing this thing with the Pine Bluff Commercial but it’s fantastically fun so Bucketfar.”
Parker has been well-versed on Southeast Arkansas sports for her whole life, even though this is her first time reporting on it. “There is a long history of sports down here. My mom was a Rison Wildcat cheerleadeer in 1950, the year they won the State Championship. So many of these teams have been state champions.”
list—check.
Arkansas Publisher Weekly 4 August 25, 2022
Then, this summer Parker called the Pine Bluff Commercial Parker is confident her investigative, human interest and political journalism will serve her well in the sports world. “I’m looking for the sports scandal down here,” she said wryly. “No, I think I bring a unique expertise to telling sports stories. I’ll put it that way. For me, it’s not just about who wins or loses the game. It’s about the personalities on the team, the coaches, and the way they coach the players. They’re all humans.”
lobbed their way out in public. But the Clintons remained a significant portion of Parker’s journalism, even if at arm’s length.
“So I like to think that I could bring a human element to these stories where it’s not just stats. The audience will buy into the teams because I will make sure the coaches and the players are real people.”
Parker understands how important athletics are to rural communities, too. “I want to stress how important community journalism is,” she said. “People think that working for a small newspaper is a stepdown journalistically, but actually the best untold stories are in your own backyard. And sports are a part of that. “I want to tell the stories of southeast Arkansas,” Parker said. “Now that I’ve moved back home, that’s what I want to write about.” I think I am lucky in that I get to do this. I get to come full circle.
The Tom and Pat Gish Award is named Ellen Kreth Celia Kreth Shannon Hahn
“At a time when newspapers need to remind the public of their value to local democracy, Ellen Kreth and the Madison County Record are an example to the nation,” said Cross.
Arkansas Publisher Weekly 5 August 25, 2022
“The school district fought us at each step, publicly criticizing our editorial decisions and the credibility of our reporting,” Kreth told the Institute for Rural Journalism.
The Record also reported that on election night, five days after the board granted the school superintendent’s request to become director of compliance and personnel, the sheriff’s office found her hidden under a bridge with the unopposed board member in his truck, claiming to be “star-gazing” on the stormy night.
The district asked for a gag order, and the paper hired legal counsel to intervene in the case on that issue and won. That allowed parties to the case, “including victims, to continue to speak to us, helping ensure accuracy in every article,” Kreth
An Arkansas publisher and her weekly newspaper, which revealed school officials’ cover-up of sexual-abuse allegations by students in the face of court challenges and harsh criticism by the officials, are the winners of the 2022 Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism from the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky.
“The school board claimed ignorance for never having previously handled a Title IX investigation. It failed to provide notice of meetings, claiming a newspaper should not cover student discipline. Based upon our reporting, a parent sued the district for the open-meetings violations and won.”
By Al Cross, Director, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and Extension Professor, School of Journalism and Media, College of Communication and Information, University of Kentucky.
Thewrote. work (available at https://www. mcrecordonline.com/Content/Default/ Title-IX/-3/111) was done by Kreth, General Manager Shannon Hahn and Celia Kreth, the publisher’s younger daughter, now a senior at the University of Pennsylvania. Ellen Kreth said the 4,000-circulation paper with a staff of five turned down help from larger news organizations because they had promised anonymity to several victims and families.
Madison County Record wins Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism
Ellen Kreth and the Madison County Record have long been standouts in Arkansas journalism, and leaders in the battle for freedom of information in the state. Their FOI experiences served them well in their battle with the Huntsville School District, which tried to conceal sexual abuse by members of the Huntsville High School Junior High boys’ basketball team against some of their teammates over two basketball seasons. The Record learned of the case from victims’ parents, who approached the newspaper to make sure the allegations weren’t swept under the rug and school officials were held accountable. The paper didn’t name any students involved, but did report that the school board reduced or rejected the recommended punishment for the violators. It focused on how officials handled the allegations. It reported the district’s failure to immediately report the allegations, as required by law, and multiple open-meetings violations of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
Kreth started out as a journalist and became a lawyer, but got back into journalism in 2002 when she inherited the newspaper from her grandmother. She said her knowledge of FOI law prevented officials and their lawyers from intimidating her, and the paper’s use of the laws has made readers more aware of them, to the point that they come in asking how to file an open-records request.
The newspaper’s reporting prompted an investigation by the county sheriff; special open-meetings training for the school board, which didn’t do it in the time required; a lawsuit by a parent alleging violations of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which ban sex-based discrimination in any school that gets federal funding; the board’s admission of liability in that suit; and the electoral defeat in May of three of the four board members who sought reelection.
Madison County Record wins Tom and Pat Gish Award
Dinner tickets for non-SPJ members are $125 each; table sponsorships are $1,250. For more information, contact Al Cross at al.cross@uky.edu
The annual dinner also honors recipients of the Al Smith Award for public service through community journalism by Kentuckians, which the institute presents with the Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The 2022 winners of the Smith Award are Chris Evans and Allison Mick-Evans of The Crittenden Press, a small weekly in West Kentucky that has punched above its weight and persevered for almost 30 years in the face of increasing challenges, most recently a city water crisis in which it has been an information lifeline.
Photo by Shannon Hahn, Madison County Record
for Tom and Pat Gish, the couple who published The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., weekly for more than 50 years and repeatedly demonstrated courage, tenacity and integrity through advertiser boycotts, business competition, declining population, personal attacks and even the burning of their office by a local policeman who state police believe was paid by coal companies.
for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism
Continued from Page 5 Agriculture isEssential For photos, video, news, commentary and more, visit www.ArFB.com Public Relations Contacts Steve Eddington 501-228-1383 | steve.eddington@arfb.com Rob Anderson 501-228-1640 | rob.anderson@arfb.com Telling the story of our state’s #1 industry Arkansas Publisher Weekly 6 August 25, 2022
Author and journalist Bill Bishop of LaGrange, Texas, who worked for the Gishes and is a member of the award selection committee, said of the winners’ work, “I can’t imagine a harder issue to pursue in a community. And the open-records fight is straight out of early Tom and Pat.”
The Gish Award will be presented Nov. 3 at the annual Al Smith Awards Dinner at the Embassy Suites Lexington on Newtown Pike near Interstate 64/75 in Lexington, Kentucky. The keynote speaker will be Renee Shaw, public-affairs director for Kentucky Educational Television.
www.etypeservices.com thad@etypeservices.com · Call Us Today 512.687.9055 · NewspaperforDigitalAffordableSolutionstheCommunity Digital delivery to any device eType Services is the only digital provider focused on the community newspaper, delivering your local coverage to subscribers at half the cost of the other providers. e-Editions and digital distribution to every devicedelivered to email. Websites hosted and designed to sell subscriptions. Full service web - post your news from your PDF. Mobile ProductionApplications. , design pages, classifieds and advertising.
By Mark Buffalo, Log Cabin Democrat
Arkansas Publisher Weekly 8 August 25, 2022
From 1992 until his death from pancreatic cancer in November 1999, Bill was always someone I could call and ask questions. When I tried to quit the business in 1996, Bill talked me out of it. The Magie family let me work part time for a while until the sports editor’s position came open in the fall of 1997. And with the exception of one year when I was working in retail, I’ve been a newspaperman since the fall of 1995 full time. One story I remember Bill telling me was when NASA landed on the moon in 1969, he had practiced taking photos of the television with a Polaroid camera so that the paper could get a quick photo in the next day’s paper. Wow, technology really has changed. Bill trusted me so much that he had me house sit for him multiple times when he was his wife Nancy would travel out of Arkansas for various things. I still think fondly of Bill. I’m Facebook friends with his sister Ellen King, whose husband Harry King, is another of my mentors in the newspaper business. When Stephens Media bought out Magie Enterprises in June 2006, I was afforded a new opportunity to work with two of the best journalists in the state in Harry and our boss, Dennis Byrd
Bill was a lifer in the business. He took an instant liking to me. Granted, I didn’t know anything about how a newspaper works or what it really entailed to get one produced each week. That summer, I learned as many dos and don’ts as it pertained to the newspaper business. I learned how to cut and paste pages, learned how to shoot pages in the darkroom and even delivered the newspaper. But it’s where I became a “lifer” because of the knowledge I gained from working for Bill.
With the exception of a five-year period, my newspaper career consisted of working for a “hometown” newspaper. From 1995-2014, I worked for Magie Enterprises then Stephens Media. I was a writer/photographer then sports editor for the Cabot Star-Herald, Lonoke Democrat and Carlisle Independent. Carlisle is my hometown. These three papers were all located in Lonoke County, where I have lived all of my life. My interest in newspapers started when I was in high school. I think a lot of it had to do with wanting to take photos. I got my first real SLR camera – a Canon AE-1 Program – for my 14th birthday. During FBLA Career Day at Carlisle High School my sophomore through senior years, I spent the day working with Pam Walter at the Carlisle Independent. My senior year of high school, Carlisle football coach James Clayton asked me if I wanted to write about the Bison football team for the newspaper. I did not hesitate at the chance. Carlisle went 11-3 that season, advancing to the Class A state title game. It was the start of something bigger for me. Fast forward two years. It’s the summer of 1992. I asked Pam if there was any sort of internship available at the StarHerald and the sister papers. She got me in contact with my future boss and now lifelong friend Mark Magie That was the biggest summer to my Thatcareer.summer, I began work with Bill Rutherford. Bill was the editor of the Magie newspapers. He had started at the papers in November 1991 after a more than 35-year career with the Arkansas Gazette, where he was managing editor when the paper was sold to the Arkansas Democrat in October 1991.
From November 2009 through the fall of 2013, I worked closely with Harry, Dennis, Scott Faldon and Robbie Neiswanger, covering the Arkansas Razorbacks football team. I flew to games with those guys all around the SEC. I always took advantage of the situation to talk newspaper and sports with Harry and Dennis.
For Harry and Dennis, I still call or text them every so often. I interact with Dennis on social media, same for Harry’s wife AsEllen.anyone can see, I have been pretty blessed in my career to have worked with some of the best journalists in Arkansas. Granted, the newspaper business isn’t what it once was, even 25 years ago, but there is still a place for it in our lives. It’s the watchdog of a community. In my position as sports editor, it’s my job to cover the student-athletes and present them in a good light. Granted, it’s not always going to be rosy. There will be some bitter defeats, and sometimes, I have to cover some unpleasant things when it comes to sports locally. But our readers deserve the best. I’m not the best local sports journalist around, but I will do my best to use the knowledge imparted to me by my mentors and others in the business, to give the readers of the Log Cabin Democrat the very best. Mark Buffalo is the sports editor of the Log Cabin Democrat and can be reached at mbuffalo@thecabin.net.
Harry, who retired a few years ago from writing columns for the statewide newspaper’s Razorbacks bureau, was the sports columnist for Stephens Media. He previously worked at the Arkansas Gazette and worked for the Associated Press in Little Rock.
Sometimes, I think I was born into the wrong era of newspaper journalism. I love my job, and I’m doing the best I can to build up our readership by giving more local content. I think it’s the backbone of any community newspaper.
Guest Column: Sports editor thankful for mentors in newspapers
101 East Markham Street, Little Rock, AR 72201
Cocktail/Formal (black tie optional) $200 each or Table of 8 for $1,500
Thursday, October 20
To purchase tickets or a table, visit: arkansaspress.org/events.
Thursday, October 20 Cocktail Reception at 6 p.m. | Program at 7 p.m.
DetailsEvent
101 East Markham Street, Little Rock, AR 72201
Statehouse Convention Center in the Wally Allen Ballroom
DetailsEvent
To purchase tickets or a table, visit: arkansaspress.org/events.
Statehouse Convention Center in the Wally Allen Ballroom
Thursday, October 20
Cocktail/Formal (black tie optional) $200 each or Table of 8 for $1,500
Cocktail Reception at 6 p.m. | Program at 7 p.m.
DetailsEvent
Statehouse Convention Center in the Wally Allen Ballroom 101 East Markham Street, Little Rock, AR 72201
Cocktail Reception at 6 p.m. | Program at 7 p.m. Cocktail/Formal (black tie optional) $200 each or Table of 8 for $1,500 To purchase tickets or a table, visit: arkansaspress.org/events.
Asa Hutchinson is the 46th governor of the State of Arkansas. In 2018, he was re-elected with 65% of the vote, having received more votes than any other candidate for governor in the state’s history. He has won recognition for the state as a leader in computer science education, cut taxes by over $250 million, and signed a law that exempts the retirement pay of veterans from state income tax.
The Razorbacks finished first among programs with 19 or fewer sports, second among SEC schools and earned only its second top-10 Directors’ Cup finish, following a then-record eighth place finish in 2020-21. Despite sponsoring only 19 sport programs, Arkansas 2020 Headliner of the Year
Governor Hutchinson grew up on a small farm in Gravette. He is a graduate of the University of Arkansas law school. He and his wife, Susan, have been married 49 years. They have four children and seven grandchildren.
Hunter Yurachek, Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics University of Arkansas
President Ronald Reagan appointed Governor Hutchinson as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. In 1996, he won the first of three successive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. During his third term in Congress, President George W. Bush appointed him director of the Drug Enforcement Administration and later as an undersecretary in the newly created Department of Homeland Security. His experience has established him as a national resource for his expertise on trade, energy, national security and education. The governor has been invited to the White House several times to join discussions about health care, Medicaid and education issues.
2021 Headliner of the Year
The Governor is the former Chairman of the National Governors Association. He is also the former co-chair of the Council of Governors and the former chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) and the Southern Regional Education Board.
theAboutHonorees (Continued)
In his fifth full year as vice chancellor and director of athletics at the University of Arkansas, Hunter Yurachek has solidified the Razorbacks as one of the nation’s elite intercollegiate athletics programs. Since December 2017 Yurachek has worked tirelessly to foster athletics success in 19 sports, restore the tradition of a storied program and enhance the student-athlete experience for 465 student-athletes.
Asa Hutchinson, Governor of Arkansas
In the 2021-22 academic year, Arkansas recorded the most successful collective year in the program’s history, winning eight Southeastern Conference championships and finishing seventh in the Learfield IMG Directors’ Cup, the competition that tracks the nation’s most successful intercollegiate athletics programs. This bested the eighth place finish Razorback Athletics posted in 2020-21. Arkansas’s previous best finish prior to 2020-21 was 14th in the competition.
Headliner of the Year
Craig and Brent Renaud, Documentary Filmmakers, Television Producers and Film Programmers
Distinguished Service Award
Renaud Brothers
Hunter Yurachek, Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics
Brent Renaud was the first American journalist killed in Ukraine in 2022, while documenting the refugee crisis. The Renaud Brothers’ work has won a Peabody Award, two Columbia DuPont Awards, two Overseas Press Club Awards, an IDA award, a Webby and an Edward R. Murrow Award. Craig Renaud is currently in production on a number of film projects, including a documentary about his late brother Brent and a national PBS series called Southern Storytellers.
earned a total of nine top-10 NCAA finishes and 12 top-20 NCAA finishes. In the classroom, Razorback student-athletes earned a program-record 3.27 GPA and a total of 97 Razorback student-athletes earned their degrees in the 2021-22 academic year. The University of Arkansas and Yurachek are being nationally recognized for those accomplishments. Yurachek was selected as a 202122 Football Bowl Subdivision Cushman & Wakefield Athletics Director of the Year by his peers, and was also a finalist for the Sports Business Journal 2022 Athletics Director of the Year.
The Renaud Brothers are best known for their character driven, cinema verité documentaries like Dope Sick Love, Last Chance High, Off to War and Meth Storm. The Renauds also co-founded the Little Rock Film Festival, which was named one of the top film festivals in the country by Filmmaker Magazine.
University of Arkansas Brent Renaud pictured in a Libyan Desert. Photo courtesy of Jeff Newton.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson named Yurachek to the Governor’s Economic Recovery Task Force to help guide state reopening in the wake of COVID-19. In April 2021, Yurachek was named to the NCAA Football Oversight Committee, after previously serving on the NCAA Football Competition Committee
Golden 50 Service Award
Walter E. Hussman, Jr., a third-generation newspaperman, was born January 5, 1947, in Texarkana and grew up in Camden. His father was publisher of the Camden News, and his grandfather was publisher of the Texarkana Gazette. Hussman earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina and an M.B.A. from Columbia University in New York. He began his carerer as a reporter for Forbes magazine but returned to Arkansas in September, 1970 to work in the family business, and became general manager of the Camden News in 1971.
Golden 50 Service Award
In December 1969, a few days after his 16th birthday, John Brummett , a junior at McClellan High School in Little Rock and sports editor of his school newspaper, went to work part-time for the then-afternoon Arkansas Democrat in the sports department. He worked before school, from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., helping produce the afternoon sports pages. He covered local high school sports events in the evenings and local golf, tennis and swimming events in summer. He has worked continuously since—more than 52 years—for newspapers or news services in Arkansas.
In a David-versus-Goliath battle that few predicted he would survive, Hussman went head-to-head with the established, dominant Arkansas Gazette and won. Earlier in 1974, Hussman persuaded his father to buy the Arkansas Democrat, the afternoon daily newspaper in Little Rock. After a protracted and heated newspaper war, legal battles and even with the sale of the Arkansas Gazette to Gannett in 1986, Hussman emerged the winner and bought the assets of the rival newspaper in 1991, creating the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Walter E. Hussman, Jr., Chairman of WEHCO Media, Inc. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Walter E. Hussman, Jr., a third-generation newspaperman, was born January 5, 1947, in Texarkana and grew up in Camden. His father was publisher of the Camden News, and his grandfather was publisher of the Texarkana Gazette. Hussman earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina and an M.B.A. from Columbia University in New York. He began his carerer as a reporter for Forbes magazine but returned to Arkansas in September, 1970 to work in the family business, and became general manager of the Camden News in 1971.
In a David-versus-Goliath battle that few predicted he would survive, Hussman went head-to-head with the established, dominant Arkansas Gazette and won. Earlier in 1974, Hussman persuaded his father to buy the Arkansas Democrat, the afternoon daily newspaper in Little Rock. After a protracted and heated newspaper war, legal battles and even with the sale of the Arkansas Gazette to Gannett in 1986, Hussman emerged the winner and bought the assets of the rival newspaper in 1991, creating the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Today, WEHCO Media operates 10 daily newspapers, eight weekly newspapers and nine cable television companies in six states. Hussman was named Publisher of the Year by Editor & Publisher magazine in 2009. He was a member of the board of directors of The Associated Press from 2000 to 2009 and C-SPAN from 1995 to 2003. Hussman championed education and after-school programs in Little Rock and the state of Arkansas. He also served on the Arkansas Arts Center board of directors, on the board of the Arkansas Repertory Theater and on the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Society board of directors. While on the symphony board, he started Pops on the River, a patriotic symphony and fireworks show on the Arkansas River in Little Rock each 4th of July. In 2017, the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media was named in recognition of four generations of the family committed to journalism. John Brummett, Columnist In December 1969, a few days after his 16th birthday, John Brummett , a junior at McClellan High School in Little Rock and sports editor of his school newspaper, went to work part-time for the then-afternoon Arkansas Democrat in the sports department. He worked before school, from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., helping produce the afternoon sports pages. He covered local high school sports events in the evenings and local golf, tennis and swimming events in summer. He has worked continuously since—more than 52 years—for newspapers or news services in Arkansas.
Walter E. Hussman, Jr., Chairman of WEHCO Media, Inc. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Walter E. Hussman, Jr., a third-generation newspaperman, was born January 5, 1947, in Texarkana and grew up in Camden. His father was publisher of the Camden News, and his grandfather was publisher of the Texarkana Gazette. Hussman earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina and an M.B.A. from Columbia University in New York. He began his carerer as a reporter for Forbes magazine but returned to Arkansas in September, 1970 to work in the family business, and became general manager of the Camden News in 1971.
John Brummett, Columnist
While attending the University of Central Arkansas, he was sports editor of the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway and later a news reporter for the paper. He joined the Arkansas Gazette in July 1977 as a statedesk general assignment reporter. He became a state Capitol reporter for the paper in 1980, and, as the newspaper war between the Gazette and Democrat heated up, a columnist beginning in 1986. He became a senior editor of the Arkansas Times and Arkansas Business in 1990 while also a contract columnist for the Democrat. Then, in 1993, he wrote columns both for the Democrat and Times while in Washington writing a book, called “Highwire,” about Bill Clinton’s first year as president. Back in Little Rock in 1994, he became exclusively a columnist for the surviving Arkansas-Democrat-Gazette, leaving in 2000 to become a columnist for the Arkansas New Bureau of Stephens Media. He returned in 2011 to the Democrat-Gazette as a contract columnist, and he continues in that role today. He has won many state column-writing awards, a few regional ones and two national ones from the association of state Capitol Inreporters.2017,he was inducted into the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame.
He has won many state column-writing awards, a few regional ones and two national ones from the association of state Capitol Inreporters.2017,he was inducted into the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame.
In a David-versus-Goliath battle that few predicted he would survive, Hussman went head-to-head with the established, dominant Arkansas Gazette and won. Earlier in 1974, Hussman persuaded his father to buy the Arkansas Democrat, the afternoon daily newspaper in Little Rock. After a protracted and heated newspaper war, legal battles and even with the sale of the Arkansas Gazette to Gannett in 1986, Hussman emerged the winner and bought the assets of the rival newspaper in 1991, creating the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Today, WEHCO Media operates 10 daily newspapers, eight weekly newspapers and nine cable television companies in six states. Hussman was named Publisher of the Year by Editor & Publisher magazine in 2009. He was a member of the board of directors of The Associated Press from 2000 to 2009 and C-SPAN from 1995 to 2003. Hussman championed education and after-school programs in Little Rock and the state of Arkansas. He also served on the Arkansas Arts Center board of directors, on the board of the Arkansas Repertory Theater and on the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Society board of directors. While on the symphony board, he started Pops on the River, a patriotic symphony and fireworks show on the Arkansas River in Little Rock each 4th of July. In 2017, the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media was named in recognition of four generations of the family committed to journalism.
While attending the University of Central Arkansas, he was sports editor of the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway and later a news reporter for the paper. He joined the Arkansas Gazette in July 1977 as a statedesk general assignment reporter. He became a state Capitol reporter for the paper in 1980, and, as the newspaper war between the Gazette and Democrat heated up, a columnist beginning in 1986. He became a senior editor of the Arkansas Times and Arkansas Business in 1990 while also a contract columnist for the Democrat. Then, in 1993, he wrote columns both for the Democrat and Times while in Washington writing a book, called “Highwire,” about Bill Clinton’s first year as president. Back in Little Rock in 1994, he became exclusively a columnist for the surviving Arkansas-Democrat-Gazette, leaving in 2000 to become a columnist for the Arkansas New Bureau of Stephens Media. He returned in 2011 to the Democrat-Gazette as a contract columnist, and he continues in that role today. He has won many state column-writing awards, a few regional ones and two national ones from the association of state Capitol Inreporters.2017,he was inducted into the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame.
Golden 50 Service Award
While attending the University of Central Arkansas, he was sports editor of the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway and later a news reporter for the paper. He joined the Arkansas Gazette in July 1977 as a statedesk general assignment reporter. He became a state Capitol reporter for the paper in 1980, and, as the newspaper war between the Gazette and Democrat heated up, a columnist beginning in 1986. He became a senior editor of the Arkansas Times and Arkansas Business in 1990 while also a contract columnist for the Democrat Then, in 1993, he wrote columns both for the Democrat and Times while in Washington writing a book, called “Highwire,” about Bill Clinton’s first year as president.
Walter E. Hussman, Jr., Chairman of WEHCO Media, Inc. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
He has worked continuously since—more than 52 years—for newspapers or news services in Arkansas.
Back in Little Rock in 1994, he became exclusively a columnist for the surviving Arkansas-Democrat-Gazette, leaving in 2000 to become a columnist for the Arkansas New Bureau of Stephens Media. He returned in 2011 to the Democrat-Gazette as a contract columnist, and he continues in that role today.
John Brummett, Columnist
In December 1969, a few days after his 16th birthday, John Brummett , a junior at McClellan High School in Little Rock and sports editor of his school newspaper, went to work part-time for the then-afternoon Arkansas Democrat in the sports department. He worked before school, from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., helping produce the afternoon sports pages. He covered local high school sports events in the evenings and local golf, tennis and swimming events in summer.
Today, WEHCO Media operates 10 daily newspapers, eight weekly newspapers and nine cable television companies in six states. Hussman was named Publisher of the Year by Editor & Publisher magazine in 2009. He was a member of the board of directors of The Associated Press from 2000 to 2009 and C-SPAN from 1995 to 2003. Hussman championed education and after-school programs in Little Rock and the state of Arkansas. He also served on the Arkansas Arts Center board of directors, on the board of the Arkansas Repertory Theater and on the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Society board of directors. While on the symphony board, he started Pops on the River, a patriotic symphony and fireworks show on the Arkansas River in Little Rock each 4th of July. In 2017, the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media was named in recognition of four generations of the family committed to journalism.
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