Thirty years after I packed up my Buick Skylark and left Lufkin for Dallas, it's nice to know there is a daily reminder that I passed through town for about two years in the 1970s.
"Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for meritorious public service," it says in front-page italics just below where it says The Lufkin Daily News. The small print memorializes how a small-town paper can have big-time impact on major institutions.
The stories, written by then-Editor Joe Murray and then-Kid Reporter Ken Herman, documented the life and death of Lynn "Bubba" McClure, a Lufkinite whose challenged life led to unnecessary death at Marine Corps boot camp.
The newspaper showed that McClure, a slight young man, had died after participating in a series of pugil-stick bouts at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. Participants recalled that McClure, by way of trying to toughen him up, had been required to fight a series of bouts against larger, stouter opponents.
A blow to the head proved fatal.
The reporting also showed that McClure had failed the Marine entrance exam several times before passing it. And there were questions as to whether his test score was fudged by a recruiter.
The stories led to congressional hearings and reforms in Marine Corps training and recruiting. The Pulitzer was awarded in 1977 while I was taking time off between when I left the Lufkin paper and started work at The Associated Press in Dallas.
As we told folks at the time, winning the prize resulted from nothing more mystical than being willing and able to chase a potentially big story the same way you go after a more routine story. It's pretty simple really: Just keep asking questions.
I spent 11 years with AP, including a brief stint in Dallas, two years as correspondent in the Rio Grande Valley and nine years at the Capitol in Austin.
In 1988, I became Austin bureau chief for The Houston Post, which folded in 1995. I then returned to Cox Newspapers as Capitol bureau chief for the Austin American-Statesman, leading the paper's coverage of state government and politics.
That tour of duty included covering George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, which I did, in conjunction with the Cox Newspapers Washington Bureau, for the newspaper chain.
In 2001, I went to Washington on temporary assignment to cover the first six months of the Bush administration. I then returned to Austin to cover the Capitol for the American-Statesman.
In 2004, I returned to Washington to cover the Bush re-election campaign. In January 2005, I officially joined the Washington Bureau to cover the White House for Cox Newspapers.
My wife, Sharon Jayson, is a reporter for USA Today in the paper's Life section. Daughter Tracey, a New York University graduate, is a theatrical costume designer in New York. Son Jeremy is a University of Georgia junior.
At some undetermined point in the future, we will return to Austin (probably about when my Dallas-born wife has had enough of Washington winters).
The long-ago Pulitzer has long-ago faded from conversations. Lots of folks I deal with in Washington don't know about it. It's ancient history (written originally on a manual typewriter) in a business more concerned about daily developments.
It does, however, come up at peculiar times, including at a friend's wedding many years ago.
"This is Ken Herman," my friend the bride told her mom as I worked my way down the reception line.
Mom said something pleasant. Then the bride prompted her with, "You know, I told you about Ken."
"Oh yes," said mom, "you're the young man who won the Nobel Peace Prize."
