Bios for Hall of Fame Recipients 2003
Roswell Willard, one
of the founders, became the first
president of the fledgling AIPA calling the first session to order on
Willard served as vice-president in 1954-55 and a
second term as president for 1956-57. During this term, he and Schweikart “noting the inconsistencies in practice and the
constitution in early 1957, revised the document and sent a new constitution to
the membership for consideration,” according to the history.
Edmund Lewis, a founder, first served as
vice-president moving to the presidency during the second year of the
organization. He scheduled the Second Annual AIPA Journalism Conference for
Nov. 18, 1950 at Arizona State College at Flagstaff (now NAU) in order “to build
good will between all three colleges—U of A, ASC-Tempe, and ASC-Flagstaff—by
holding joint conferences, co-sponsoring “J-Day” at the U of A and inviting U
of A participation in AIPA affairs…for the veterans among us who recall the
seal which existed between the three schools for high school patronage, this
was quite innovative. Journalism heads at the time were Douglas Martin (U of
A), E. J. Hopkins (ASC-Tempe) and Melvin Hutchinson (ASC-Flagstaff) and it was
not uncommon to have all three of these gentlemen attend Association convention
dinners.” That second conference began at
G.T. Young, a founder, served as second
vice-president for Lewis in 1950. He continued as vice-president for two more
years under Norm Borg and Herman Schweikart.
Herman Schweikart—“He loved the work," said the widow of
the late Hermann Schwiekart. One of the original
founders of AIPA, Hermann Schwiekart is remembered
and appreciated for his years as a "publications man". He was
researching, compiling and writing a history for
Schwiekart taught at
For many years, Hermann Schwiekart
was the adviser for newspaper and yearbook at
Before AIPA was born journalism conventions were held at the various universities in the state.
Schwiekart knew the other high school journalist
advisers who attended these conventions,
In 1970 AIPA awarded him Mr. High School Journalism Teacher, and he was named
Master Teacher in Journalism by Arizona State University Mass Communications as
well. The Wall Street Journal granted a Fellowship for five weeks of study at
three different universities. He selected to attend
One of his remembered student success stories was Phil McCombe
who now works for the Washington Post. Countless students learned and studied
with his leadership. His two daughters were both in publications, attended
workshops and conventions, learning and loving what they did.
Hermann Schwiekart was
one of the men who literally built AIPA from nothing. He was a man of
dedication and vision. His example of superior leadership for his staffs
carried throughout his life and work. Summer Workshops all over the country
hired him as an instructor. He lived it and loved it, and we are the
beneficiaries of his efforts. Years later while conferring a life-time
membership on Schweikart, advisers recognized him as
the “Father of AIPA.”
It is an honor to present him as a founder of AIPA into the
Hall of Fame.
Forest R. Martin, the man for whom the long-coveted “
Martin continued his role as Executive Secretary and Workshop Director for the next seven years during which enrollment swelled to 350 students with 79 schools represented. During those years, the Pine ‘n Pen, the workshop yearbook, and the Workshopper the camp newspaper, were also born. By 1964, though, there was competition for the position of director, and Bert Bostrom took the reigns of workshop from Martin. Martin took his turn as President of the organization in 1965.
However, Martin was again at the helm in the spring of 1970 when he was appointed as acting Executive Secretary and workshop director and then re-elected to the position in the fall, but this time AIPA was to face a crisis when illness and death struck down Forest Martin in January 1971 before the “Father of Publications Workshop” was able to serve again.
Though yearbook dedications were
outdated by that time, Martin’s Camelback High School All-American and Medalist
Shield staff dedicated that year’s
book to him saying in part: … his honors
don’t describe his important contribution.
He cared about each student and took the time to talk to each of us
personally. He influenced all who knew
him and made the staff a willing team in spite of conflicting personalities.
The 32nd Forest R. Martin Memorial Award will be presented to a deserving adviser this November.
Dr. Bert N. Bostrom—“Arizona Interscholastic Press Association is
something unique. It is more than an association of
He has been acquainted with the founders of the organization, used them as
sources in the history and acknowledged their contributions. He states,
"To those who kept the records over the years, your work has been my
mainstay of information. Herman Schweikart's
memory and research have been of invaluable assistance in preparing the story
of the early years. The work of Freeman Hover and Earl Stinson in making other
items available from the Association files was of great help. James Coffroth provided records, his memory, and encouragement
when they were needed most." More importantly, Dr. Bert Bostrom was a part of much of the development of AIPA.
Dr. Bostrom was in attendance at the first AIPA
workshop ever held. He was a high school senior. His adviser, he said,
“loaded us up and off we went.” He was a co-founder for the summer workshop at
NAU. In 1959, he met with NAU at the first meeting about a summer workshop. He
served as assistant director for five years. Then as director of workshop from
1964-66, he witnessed the increase of attendance from 400 to 500 students. That
was the time when students came from all across the country to take part in the
workshop as well as those from
Dr. Bostrom’s experience as a teacher in journalism
expanded over the years. He taught at Tolleson High
from 1957-1959, Phoenix Union High, 1959-1964; East High 1964-67. He retired
from
The history states, “There are those of us who cut their teeth on an
established association, have since moved out of the high school teaching
ranks, and have felt at one time or another that there was an end to the
potential of the high school journalism teacher to carry on the work... But on
the completion of the writing of the history of the first 22 years of Arizona
Interscholastic Press Association, I see no end of that potential, nor should
there be.”
As he looks back on his experiences, Dr. Bostrom
states, “The days of the beginning are special. For us, AIPA was a passion. We
lived it all year round.” He continues, “The best success I've had as a teacher
is students who move on and do fine things.” He speaks of Kevin Ann Willy an
editor now for the Dallas Morning Press.
According to Dr. Bostrom, "The best memory for
any teacher is success of students.”
Earl Stinson—When Earl Stinson retired from teaching at
After 10 years in
During his years as an adviser he was no stranger to controversy. His Maryvale paper once ran an interview with the local president of the National Organization of Women, a faculty member at the school. A business teacher found the article objectionable and wrote a letter to the editor with a carbon copy to the principal. The editor answered her with a carbon copy to the principal. Stinson said the principal later told him the editor made much more sense than the teacher.
In addition to being a member of the Arizona Interscholastic Press Association for 19 years, he also served as president, executive secretary/workshop director, workshop teacher, and assistant workshop director. In 1971, with the untimely death of Forest Martin, Stinson took over workshop, after having assisted Jim Dr. Coffroth with it earlier. From then until 1983 he served several times as assistant director
Stinson has had articles published in both Quill and Scroll and Photolith, ScM, and in 1975 he received the ASU Master Teacher Award from the Mass Communications Department. Then in 1981 he received AIPA's top award, the Forest Martin Award for Excellence in Journalism. In 1983, at the 25th annual AIPA summer workshop, he and his wife Jane were honored for their years of service and leadership, especially during the Workshop's "teen years." In fact, it was his wife who invented a method of bookkeeping that brought sense to the workshop Registration Day madness. "We made changes in yearbook curriculum that first year," he said. "Its success led to changes in newspaper the following year."
In spite of awards and accolades, Stinson says his greatest
reward has been "seeing young minds develop into mature ones. I treasure
the years of involvement with Publications Workshop. The professional advisers
of
Since his retirement Stinson has moved back to
And the memories of Earl Stinson and his wife Jane are permanent and positive ones for the Arizona Interscholastic Press Association.
Dr. James McDonald Coffroth, 82, worked tirelessly for almost 20 years in AIPA. During his tenure Dr. Coffroth served as a Board Member, Vice-President, President, Past President and Executive Secretary. He also taught at the AIPA Summer workshop and worked as Assistant Director for four years and Director for two years.
The original history notes… “As was the Apollo 11 landing on the moon some three days after Workshop ended, all was ‘normal’” with the 11th Annual Publications Workshop at NAU under Dr. Coffroth. “Problems of linen and luggage were about all that concerned the 332 Workshoppers who came from 89 schools in six states.” Things were not quite so easy, however, as Dr .Coffroth prepared his staff of 44 (each lead teacher was provided an assistant) for classes and activities at the 12th Annual Publications Workshop. “On June 8, with the Workshop just 13 days away, Dr. Coffroth was appointed to the NAU faculty and here was added the jobs of resigning his position at East, selling and buying a home, moving and its involvement and preparing for a ‘new career’.” In his application Dr. Coffroth wrote, “I guess I could have put AIPA and the AIPA Summer Workshop under ‘work experience’ category because it was both, but, on the other hand, it was fun. As I look back now on those bygone days, I tend to forget the pressures of the tasks and concentrate on the pleasures. What enriching times they were.”
“Two events stand
out in my mind,” Dr. Coffroth related—“the annual
meetings of the association which included students, teachers and
administrators from throughout
The other
outstanding event for Dr. Coffroth was the AIPA
Summer Workshop—“for me, the highlight of year,” he said. “Here was the
gathering of serious students and dedicated teachers. In terms of money,
it was costly for the students who had to come up with the tuition. The
teachers had to sacrifice vacation time, the opportunities for higher paying
jobs, or the well earned chance to just sit back and loaf—the chance to
recharge their energy batteries.
“In later years, when I was called upon to
move up the organizational ladder to assistant director of the workshop and
then to director, I truly missed the classroom teaching experience.
However, I was intrigued by the challenge of keeping the workshop program
beneficial for all concerned. It was during those years, the late 1960s,
that student enrollment hit a record high of 700 plus, and we had to either
adopt a ‘turn-away’ policy or go to a double session offering. We chose
the latter and were able to pull it off, but not without much physical and
mental exhaustion.
“There are so many memories of people
and events that it would take pages to do justice to them all. Things
like classrooms discussions, the activities programs, the bus tours, the
banquets, the romances, the excitements of exploring a college campus and
turning newly-found acquaintances into lifelong friends. The range of
talent for workshop talent shows justified the use of the term ‘awesome.’
And how we all remember—teachers and students alike—the bitter sweetness of
departure at the close of the summer schedule. For many who were a part
of those memorable days, the events still live in our hearts.”
A World War II Army veteran with two bronze stars, Dr. Coffroth
holds a BA in Journalism from the
As a newspaper professional at various newspapers from
1947-1982, Dr. Coffroth worked the copy desk, was a
reporter, columnist, editor, publisher and area bureau chief for over 10 years
at newspapers in Florida, Pennsylvania and Arizona. Between newspaper stints, Dr.
Coffroth taught at six different high schools from 1949
to 1983, including one in Dade County Florida and five in
Some of his professional affiliations include the Society of Professional Journalist, Sigma Delta Chi, Grand Canyon Chapter, past president; Arizona Newspapers Association; National Association of University Professors, Northern Arizona University Senate; Phi Delta Kappa.
He lives with his wife Carol in
Freeman B. Hover taught
journalism for 24 years. During this time he served as President,
Vice-President and AIPA Board member for nine years. He taught at the
Association’s workshop in
Over the years Freeman garnered several prestigious awards
from all of the major scholastic press associations, including the AIPA Forest
Martin Award, the AIPA Lifetime Achievement Award, a Gold Key from CSPA, the
Pioneer Award from NSPA, a Lifetime Achievement Award
for JEA. In addition he was named Master Journalism Teacher of the Year by ASU.
Other recognitions came from the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund and also from the
Freeman started his scholastic journalism career at
“My advising years spanned all of the typesetting and printing methods, from mimeograph to offset; from strike-on typewriters to computers…computers changed everything…no more linotype, paste-up, no more headline count.”
Recalling his years at the “Raider Review” in Ajo, Freeman writes: “The kids and I had a lot of fun with the mimeo paper. They worked late hours in production, cutting stencils, and inserting pictures burned into special stencils and then running off copies—sometimes in color—on the old mimeograph machine. In those days male teachers wore neckties. One day I was bent over, fastening a stencil on the machine’s ink drum. An over-eager young lady flipped the motor switch before I was ready. I wasn’t strangled, but you should have seen my ink-soaked necktie and black ink-splattered face! I knew then it was time to move forward to a new newspaper.”
At Rincon his first year the staff wanted to continue the tradition of a Valentines issue, where students bought classified ad-style messages. He had always frowned on April Fools editions, and in his mind, this was no different. But, being a new adviser to the paper he didn’t want to kill a tradition. Within 30 minutes of publishing the paper, he was in the principal’s office. It seems one of the messages referred indirectly to an affair a couple of married teachers were allegedly having. As a new member of the faculty he claimed that he was not yet privy to all the campus gossip. You can bet that was the end of that tradition.
He doesn’t recall a controversial story he survived as an adviser. He says the 70’s were a difficult time with the anti-war protest, Flower Power (Peace, Joy, & Love), and general anti-establishment student attitude. “We published critical editorials, but they were responsibly written.” The one comment he recalls from a “gentle” principal during the closing weeks of school is, “I hope the paper will be kinder to us next year.”
He would like to thank Forest Martin for mentoring him as a new adviser and getting him involved in the AIPA.
In 1966 the AIPA Board established an award in his honor, the Freeman Hover Award presently annually to a new adviser.
Dorothy C. White, newspaper
adviser for Cardinal Hi-Lites at
The history notes:
“Concerned about his AIPA duties,
White’s Glendale High staff won two Medalist ratings from Columbia Scholastic Press Association, placing them in the top 5% in the nation during her short tenure. “Hot lead” was still the mode of reproduction when she took the reins, but the staff moved to offset production creating camera-ready paste ups for Pueblo Publishers. During those were the days her staff covered Watergate, ecology and amnesty for draft evaders as well as many local issues. After eight years as adviser, the former adviser asked to take the paper back for his last two years before retirement. White agreed and took his creative writing classes.
Former students include Republic columnist Mark Armijo who said of White: "Mrs. White didn't rule with an iron fist or demand I report stories in a way she felt they should be reported. As sports editor of the student newspaper in 1968, she allowed me the freedom to find an angle to a story, then write it. If she thought you did a good job with a story, she told you. And if she felt you had missed the angle of the story, she'd tell you in a constructive way. She didn't discourage me from eventually entering the profession. She inspired me."
One of White’s former editors, Jean Franovich,
an adviser of the
White attended the
Currently White keeps busy writing for The Beacon, a monthly for the
Of her days as a high school journalism adviser, White says, “It was a terrific experience. I wouldn’t take anything for it. At the time, high school journalism played an important part in the school, and I enjoyed working with the kids—they were good kids.”
Dr. Tom A. Erhard Dr.
Tom Erhard began his career writing for his high school paper, yearbook and
literary magazine. He was a sports reporter for the town paper on
When
In 1954 the Superintendent of Albuquerque Schools appointed
him the first fulltime Public Information Director. And since neither daily
paper had an education reporter, he was writing 25-50 stories a week for both
papers including some for the Sunday
The National Education Association named him Assistant
Director of Press and Radio, a position he held for two years before resigning
to pursue his doctorate and return to the classroom. He maintained his
relationship with the association, which continued to give him assignments over
the years. One of these was to address the summer convention of the Arizona
Education Association in
He so impressed one of the teachers in attendance whose
daughter was attending the AIPA’s Summer Workshop at
the same time in
“More important than the sheer delight of working with talented high school students every summer was seeing the dedication of Forrest and Bert (Bostrom) and the whole staff of the workshop,” says Erhard.
During this time he moved up through the ranks at
“I felt as if I were a creative writing teacher to students everywhere, what with correspondence and phone calls back and forth between teachers and occasionally delightful meetings with students,” says Erhard.
At NMSU he founded and sponsored the student literary
magazine that is still published after 42 years. He also served on the Student
Publications Board for about 25 years, as he continued to write articles, books
and plays. In 1988 he authored the University’s official Centennial Play. The
Associated Women’s Students named him Teacher of the Year. And in 1989 he was
named the Outstanding Graduate of his undergraduate alma mater,
“Whether at
“It was a great boost to these advisers to find someone who could interpret the state law and was on their side,” Ridge says.
He was willing to stand up for them. At times he would call the adviser’s principal and explain the law to him as he saw it. He made sure that they were aware that he was prepared to go to court on the issues in question. Ridge was happy that all conflicts were settled far short of litigation and that the University not only gave him time, but supported him in the extension of his professional duties.
Professor Ridge taught at the
At the time there was no other university journalism department publishing a community newspaper 75 miles from campus, the Epitaph, let alone a bilingual newspaper serving a barrio section of a city, the Independiente. They have survived numerous controversies and are unique even today.
His most controversial undertaking as department head was
advising “The Pretentious Idea,” a review of
He wrote a travel column for the Arizona Daily Star,
and with his wife did a restaurant review for five years. For the last 23 years
he has been the summer editor for the Independent
Hearld Tribune in
In the late 70s Ridge was named the Arizona Newspaper Association’s professor of the year. He was also a finalist for the Virg Hill newsperson of the year for his work investigating the press performance during the campus riots of 1971. Ridge and his wife won an award from the Arizona Press Association for their reporting. The Society of American Travel Writers honored him five times with awards for his writing.
He continues to travel throughout world as a consultant to
the U.S. Army on media relations. He encounters former students throughout
Dr. Joseph Milner—Professor emeritus of Arizona State University's Cronkite
School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Dr. Joe W. Milner offered his
professional, educational and advising experience to hundreds of AIPA students
at workshops and conventions. He was co-director
of the fall AIPA workshop at ASU as well as a teacher at the AIPA Summer
Workshop in
His teaching and advising career has spanned the nation,
starting at
Dr. Milner served as co-director of the Wyoming High School
Press Association and was also managing editor of the group's monthly magazine.
He has taught at the Southern California High School Press Summer Workshop in
He also has been a student publication adviser at colleges
in
Dr. Milner’s former students have careers that span the country and include Terry Ross, managing editor of the Yuma Daily Sun, Athia Hardt, Chet Barfield with the San Diego Tribune, Gary Shapiro, Jim Fickess with the Mesa Tribune and even AIPA president Peggy Gregory.
Since retirement Dr. Milner has been active with the Walter
Cronkite Endowment, created and teaches a class, "Great American
Women," at