Former Jonesboro publisher honored for lifetime achievements
By Roy Ockert Jr.
When John Troutt Jr. was studying journalism at the University of Arkansas, he had some distinguished classmates. Among the other students in Hill Hall at the time were four future recipients of the Arkansas Press Association’s Distinguished Service Award — Bob McCord, Bob Douglas, Betty and Cone Magie.
On Friday night John joined that prestigious group when the APA presented its top award to him during its summer convention at Little Rock. I’m proud to have nominated him for this lifetime achievement honor because he was one of my mentors when I first joined The Sun staff back in 1963 as a college student.
John was in college with several other well-known Arkansas newspapermen, including Jerry McConnell, Bill Shelton and Charlie Rixey, and he roomed with Bob Riley, who went on to become Arkansas’ lieutenant governor and was governor for a short time when Dale Bumpers became a U.S. senator.
Born Oct. 10, 1929, to John W. Troutt Sr and Helen Troutt, John attended Jonesboro schools and grew up in the newspaper business. He started carrying papers for The Jonesboro Evening Sun when he was 10 years old.
As a Jonesboro High School student, he played football and earned academic honors, then enrolled at the U of A in the fall of 1947 to study journalism and history.
During that time he continued his journalistic endeavors, becoming the first editor of The Traveler, the UA student newspaper, to be selected by a publications board instead of a popular vote. He also worked part-time for the Fayetteville bureau of the Fort Smith Southwest Times American,
After graduating in 1950, he went back home and worked for The Sun for a short time before being drafted into the U.S. Army, which was gearing up for the Korean War. He would be in the Army until July 1954, when he was discharged as a first lieutenant.
His Army service included being a “guinea pig” for testing of the atomic bomb in Nevada and serving as an aide to Gen. Bruce C. Clarke, then commanding general of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas. Clarke, who would go on to become commander of the U.S. Army in the Pacific, liked to keep a writer on his staff.
After his discharge he came back to work for The Sun and worked there continuously until his family sold the newspaper to the Paxton Media Group on Oct. 1, 2000.
While John carried newspapers while going to school, he got involved in the news side when World War II came along and his dad sent him to business school to learn to type. In the eighth grade he started writing some sports and obituaries, going to work at 6:30 a.m. under an arrangement with the school to start class at mid-morning.
During the early years of his career his dad functioned mostly as the newspaper’s business manager, and his Uncle Fred as editor. His aunt, Grace Witherspoon, was the society editor.
After the war John returned to The Sun. The staff was small then, and John became the main reporter. He moved up to managing editor in 1964, when Gene Smith took a job handling public relations for a local bank.
John Sr. died in 1966, but Fred was active until his death in 1980, leaving John as editor and publisher.
During his tenure The Sun grew to a circulation of 31,000 on Sunday and 28,000 on weekdays. In 1968 the Saturday edition was discontinued in favor of a Sunday edition, at which time the newspaper’s flag became The Jonesboro Sun. In 1982 the newspaper switched to a morning schedule, and the Saturday edition was brought back to make it a 7-day daily.
Under John The Sun became a major defender of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, passed in 1967. Over the years the newspaper filed more than a dozen FOIA cases and never lost one. Two of them went to the Arkansas Supreme Court and one, North Central Association v. Troutt Brothers, is considered a landmark decision.
The newspaper was the first in the United States to start using digital cameras for news and sports coverage under an experiment with The Associated Press.
But The Sun mostly became known for its solid and extensive coverage of local and regional news. Three times while John was editor and publisher The Sun was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and it was runnerup to the Miami Herald for its coverage of the Westside school shooting in 1998.
John was also active in his community, serving as the founding chairman of Jonesboro Unlimited, a business development organization, and he was chairman of the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority.
He was a recipient of the Ernie Deane Award and the UA’s Lemke Award, and the APA has previously honored him with its Freedom of Information and Golden 50 awards.
Although his future wife Greta also grew up in Jonesboro, she and John didn’t meet until he got out of the Army and she came home after working for a time in Dallas. They were married on Nov. 7, 1954.
They have two sons, Bob and Ed, both of whom worked for The Sun until the newspaper was sold, and they have five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Roy Ockert is editor emeritus of The Jonesboro Sun. He may be reached by e-mail at royo@suddenlink.net.