A framed paper stating the first-grade career dreams of Rex Nelson hung in his parents’ home in Arkadelphia for years. It said, “I want to be a reporter.”He began reporting just a few years later when at age eight he started writing youth baseball articles for the Arkadelphia Siftings Herald. In high school he was sports editor for the weekly Southern Standard, and he served as sports editor of the Siftings Herald while attending Ouachita Baptist University.“Be careful what you wish for,” said the senior editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The call of the big city led him to a brief stint as a sports writer at the then Arkansas Democrat, but soon he was back at the Siftings Herald. At 23, he was the youngest newspaper editor in the state in 1982.“I remember going to APA summer

meetings when I was sports editor in college and when I came back as editor,” Nelson said. “As a young man those were the people I wanted to be – people like Cone Magie and Fred Wulfekuhler. I looked up to those guys.” After work on a political campaign, Nelson came back to the Democrat as assistant sports editor. His days off were Monday and Tuesday, but it was often early Monday morning before he finished making assignments for the upcoming week. He had finally gone home to sleep one Monday when managing editor John Robert Starr called him around 3 a.m.Nelson figured he’d made a big mistake to earn a call at home in the middle of the night. Instead Starr asked why he hadn’t applied for the Washington, D.C., bureau job. He had made up his mind Nelson was taking the job. “I never would have made the switch from sports to politics without that push,” he said.

He moved in 1986 to Washington, where he met his wife Melissa. A Texan from Corpus Christi, she was working in the nation’s capital at the same time. They

Newspaperman Rex Nelsonalways has a story to tell

Vol. 13 | No. 18 | Thursday, May 3, 2018 Serving Press and State Since 1873

Arkansas

W e e k l yPublisher

3 David McCollum remembered by many

4 APA 2018 Media Directory cover photo competition winner announced

ASSOCIATION

ARKANSASPRESS

Continued on Page 2

Rex Nelson

Ballots for the 2018 APA election will be mailed next week, and designated voters at APA member newspapers will have until Friday, May 25, to return them in the envelope provided. Designated voters are reminded to sign the outside of the envelope provided for the return of the ballot. A spot for that signature is clearly visible on the outside of the return envelope. Seven candidates will appear on the ballot, including the three new nominees, Kelly Freudensprung of The Saline Courier

in Benton, John Robert Schirmer of the Nashville News-Leader and Crystal Costa of the Times Record in Fort Smith.Also on the ballot will be the continuing APA Board members:

• Ellen Kreth of the Madison County Record in Huntsville

• Sue Silliman of the Camden News • Lori Freeze of the Stone County

Leader in Mountain View • Eliza Gaines of the Arkansas

Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock

The APA executive board does not appear on the ballot. They include:

• President, Tom White of the Advance Monticellonian in Monticello

• Vice President, John Bland of The Times Dispatch in Walnut Ridge

• Immediate Past President, Byron Tate of The Sheridan Headlight

• Second Vice President, Rusty Turner of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Fayetteville

Ballots set for member distribution

Rex Nelson Continued from page 1

Arkansas Publisher Weekly 2 May 3, 2018

married a few months after moving back to Little Rock, where they’ve lived since 1989. The couple has two boys, one who is studying for a PhD and law degree at the University of Texas and the other who is a junior in sports management at Ouachita Baptist University.After working as a political consultant upon returning to the state, Nelson became the editor of Arkansas Business from 1991 to 1992. He joined the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette just after the newspaper war ended in the newly created position of political editor. He covered the ’92 Clinton presidential campaign, wrote about Arkansas politics and supervised the Washington bureau from his office in Little Rock.

The pull of politics struck again in 1996 when Nelson began work as policy and communications director for Gov. Mike Huckabee, a job he held for nine years. Later he was deputy director of the Delta Regional Authority as a part of the administration of President George W. Bush.Nelson served as president of the Arkansas Independent Colleges and Universities and as a vice president of Corporate Communications for Simmons

Bank. He wrote freelance columns about Arkansas culture for the Democrat-Gazette starting in 2009.“I was chair of the Political Animals organization for seven years,” Nelson said. “It’s really a benevolent dictatorship with no board or dues. I gave the position up in 2017 to Shane Broadway.”Nelson is the voice of the Ouachita Baptist University Tigers, serving as the play-by-play announcer for almost 40 years. He has regular gigs as a television analyst with Roby Brock’s Talk Business, and on Thursdays can be heard on a KABZ radio show about Arkansas topics.Last year he decided after a 21-year absence to return to full-time journalism as

senior editor at the Democrat-Gazette. He writes a couple of Perspectives Section cover stories each month and three columns a week for the op-ed page, with the benefit of traveling the state to seek good stories to tell. “I was having a conversation with John Brummett about how it is really amazing that the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has six local columns every Sunday. You won’t find that anywhere else in America,” he said.On his travels around the state, Nelson gives public talks for organizations and events. In the past few weeks he’s spoken at the Arkansas Literary Festival and moderated panels on the future of journalism in America at colleges around the state via a grant funded by the Humanities Council.

Throughout his turns from journalism to politics to business and back, Nelson fostered a keen interest in Arkansas history, places and people. And don’t forget food and music.“At heart I’ve always been a newspaperman. It may sound hokey to people who don’t know me; but this is the best job in Arkansas. I get to travel and visit with interesting people,” Nelson said. “Working at one of the last statewide papers in the nation, I decided, is the best way to end my career.”

ANF seeking items for convention auction The Arkansas Newspaper Foundation (ANF) is once again seeking contributions

to its annual silent auction at the APA’s

SuperConvention to be held this year on June 27-30 at the Inn of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs.

ANF provides support to APA member newspapers

through paid internships, scholarship opportunities, continuing education opportunities, literacy projects and sponsorship of conference speakers. The types of auction items being sought include:

• lodging packages • arts and crafts items • dinner gift certificates • tickets to an event • golf course certificates • handmade items • baskets of goodies from your area • autographed items • Razorback items • indoor and outdoor items

ANF will also feature the “Literacy is in the Bag” area in the auction again this year. Newspapers could consider donating a purse from a local celebrity, artist, mayor, craftsman, politician, famous person, influential person, a family member or member of your staff, etc. To donate an auction item, contact Karen Brown at arknewspaperfoundation@gmail.com. All items will be listed in social media, convention materials and releases. In addition, the annual APA golf tournament benefitting the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation is going to be held at the Holiday Island Country Club in Holiday Island on Wednesday, June 27. Bob Moore of the Carroll County News in Berryville, is chairing this year’s golf tournament. The tourney is again being sponsored by AT&T and UAMS. To sign up, call the APA office at (501) 374-1500 or find the form on the APA website at this link: https://tinyurl.com/ybgbfg9l.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly 3 May 3, 2018

Continued on Page 4

By Andy RobertsonLog Cabin Democrat, Conway

David McCollum.His name is the first that comes to many minds when talking about sports journalism in Arkansas.“If you kept up with local sports over the last 40 years, David was the guy,” Conway Alderman Andy Hawkins said. “He wasn’t too interested in big picture or Razorback stuff. He was a local guy interested in local people. That’s what set him apart.”McCollum, whose name has been synonymous with Faulkner County sports for nearly 36 years, died Monday at age 68 after a heart surgery in North Little Rock.McCollum continued to write for Log Cabin until his death Monday.During that time, he has interviewed personalities, such as former UCA Bear and six-time NBA champion Scottie Pippen, former Wampus Cats, Razorbacks and NFL players Peyton Hillis and Greg Lasker and a host of great Conway golfers who impacted the national stage including Mike Smith, Bryce Molder, Mary Michael Maggio, Summar Roachell and Casey Ott.He has covered a number of different events outside Faulkner County from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s campaign and inauguration, the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match in 1973 between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King.“Although readers might think of David as only a sports guy, he was much more than that — not only in his interests, but in his abilities, too,” former Log Cabin Editor and current UCA Journalism Lecturer David Keith said. “I often say, if you are a real reporter, you can cover anything. Not only did David have that ability, but he was willing. I’m sure that if I had needed him to cover some local government board he would have ambled out and done it.

“But his passion was sports, and, as a sports writer, he was unparalleled. He was a true storyteller in his writing. David was a good guy who loved his family and loved his work and was in a perpetual good mood. I couldn’t imagine him doing anything else, and I’m sure he couldn’t either. I’m glad he got to go out this way — doing what he loved right to the end.”McCollum is survived by his wife Beverly and son Gavin.Beverly met David on a blind date through friends in 1978, and the pair was married two years later.Beverly said she loved many stories David wrote, including a story about former Razorbacks basketball coach Eddie Sutton accepting a job at the University of Kentucky.

“I was mad about it, so I said [Sutton] would have done anything to crawl to Kentucky,” she said. “David ended up quoting me in his story. He really has enjoyed covering UCA events and watching Hendrix football come back.”Beverly said she accompanied David on some trips to cover events.“I didn’t go to everything with him, but I did go to Bill Clinton’s inauguration with him in 1992,” she said. “It was a wonderful experience. I would go to a few big games, like the Cotton Bowl, the Sugar Bowl or

David McCollum remembered by many

Longtime Log Cabin Democrat Sports Editor David McCollum, in the left photo from 1991, holds one of the many awards he received during his 50 years in the newspaper business and, on the right photo in 2014, sits in the stands at Estes Stadium with his reporters notebook in hand. McCollum died Monday. He devoted 36 years of his five decades in the business to the Log Cabin. [Photo provided by thecabin.net]

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Arkansas Publisher Weekly 4 May 3, 2018

the NCAA Regionals in New Orleans. He never wanted to ask about the perks for me. When I would go with him, we would pay for me to go, so if I got in the Cotton Bowl, I would be in the last row.”Beverly also said David was a man of his word and had a strong work ethic.“Anytime he wasn’t able to do his work, he felt like he was letting people down,” she said. “He felt like once a commitment was made, he needed to be there. He never missed a day of school from elementary through high school. He was on our human resources committee at church. We had a meeting at church Sunday, and on Friday, after he had been in the hospital all week, he said he thought he could go to that. He just thought if you had a commitment, you should honor it.”In 2017, David was awarded the “Golden 50 Award” by the Arkansas Press Association for 50 years in the business, covering time as a intern at the Memphis Press-Scimitar, writing about sports at Baylor University, reporting at The Orange Leader in Orange, Texas, working as sports editor for the Arkansas Democrat and finishing a prestigious career as sports editor/columnist at the Log Cabin Democrat.He accumulated a myriad of awards during his career, which were apparent by his desk at the Log Cabin.In 2012, he was inducted into the Arkansas Sportscasters & Sportswriters Hall of Fame, and was named 2008′s Arkansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Association of Sportscasters & Sportswriters.

David’s former colleague and local attorney Beau Wilcox spoke of David as a mentor.“In over a decade of off-and-on work for the Log Cabin, in a business where cynicism was often as high as morale was low, I was always wowed by David’s ability to float above the morass as if it had no effect on him,” he said. “He worked at his craft quietly and eloquently, had a subtle wit and considerable empathy, and was the embodiment of professionalism.”David will be missed by many, not only for his work, but for who he was as a person.

David McCollum Continued from page 3

Not only was David McCollum recognized for his writing with many awards, but he was given awards for his service to schools and the journalism community. [Andy Robertson Staff Photo, thecabin.net]

APA 2018 Media Directory cover photo competition winners announcedFeatured on the front cover is the winning photo from the 2018 Arkansas Media Directory Photo Contest, “Hedges Pouroff at Sunrise” by Bobby Burton of the The Daily Record in Little Rock. In second place (photo top right), Nancy Kemp of Delta Crossroads, Rector, with “Dawn Breaks.” Third place (photo bottom right) is awarded to Greg Davis of the Saline Courier, Benton, with “Lightning over the Saline County Courthouse.” Media directories are available for purchase for $40 for non-members and at a discounted price of $20 for APA members and associate members. To purchase, visit the online store on our website, arkansaspress.s i te-ym.com/store/ViewProduct.aspx?id=4894941 or by calling the APA office at (501) 374-1500.