2004 Distinguished Service Award winner       Robert J. “Bob” Early

Bob Early retired as editor of Arizona Highways Magazine last year, capping an illustrious 47-year career in journalism — and making this a fitting time to honor him.

“Bob was the best editor I ever worked for — vigorous, funny, in love with the job, a guy who cared about writing and politics and people,” said Charles Kelley, a 33-year veteran reporter who was hired by Early at The Arizona Republic in 1972. “He could smoke out corruption, run a poker bluff and figure out what the insiders were going to do before they knew themselves.”

When the Valley of the Sun chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists honored Early with the Phil Alvidrez Award for Journalistic Excellence March 12, SPJ called on Kelley to introduce Early:

“My favorite memory of Bob Early comes from his days as city editor of The Arizona Republic. When Maricopa County went to computers to count the vote on election nights — a process that early on led to glitches and slow counting — Bob would get more and more frustrated trying to make deadline. At some point, Bob would call the hapless reporter at election central, and the reporter would say there were no voting results.

Bob would reply, ‘Well, punch somebody in the mouth and GET some results’. As a journalist, Bob always favored the direct approach.”

Early started out as a reporter and photographer at the Indianapolis Star in 1958. He moved to Arizona and took a job at the Republic in 1961, became city editor in 1970 and managing editor in 1978. He took the helm of Phoenix Metro Magazine as editor in 1985. Then, after wandering off the journalism path for several years, he joined the staff of Arizona Highways in 1990 and spent 15 years as the internationally acclaimed magazine’s “poor old editor.”

During Early’s tenure the magazine won numerous awards, including the International Regional Magazine Association’s “Magazine of the Year” designation in 2003, 2001, 2000, 1998 and 1992; the Society of Travel Writers’ Lowell Thomas award in 2000 and 1997; and the Western Publisher’s Association “best overall publication” award in 2002.

“Bob has a good understanding of the talents of everybody who works for him,” said Bob Albano, managing editor of the Arizona Highways books division.

Early hired Albano at the Republic in the 70s and Albano recounts how one day a reporter skipped out before deadline without finishing a story. Early found out the guy was holed up in bar across the street. “Rather than go over there and chew the reporter out, Bob called the guy’s wife,” Albano said. “The guy comes in the next day and swears he will never leave a story unfinished again.”

Early won the Arizona Press Club’s Newsperson of the Year award in 1977 for his leadership of The Arizona Republic staff in the wake of the murder of Republic reporter Don Bolles.

Early formed a task force of four reporters to dig in to the Bolles story and find out what happened. Kelley credits him with helping the team during a stressful and unpredictable time. Early had worked closely with Bolles on his investigative pieces on political corruption and mafia infiltration of the state.

“Bob knew the state, knew the leaders — and knew some of the bad guys,” Kelley said. “He understood the relationships between politicians and was able to put it together.”

Early began teaching writing classes in 1992 at Arizona State University West, where he still teaches today. Many of his former students are working writers and journalists today because he encouraged and coached them to stretch their abilities.

Some of those students wrote the jokes for the Arizona Highways book Cow Pie Ain’t No Dish You Take to the County Fair. Early dedicated the book “to all those courageous adults who undergo untold sacrifices to return to colleges and universities in an effort to expand their learning and improve their lives.”

Last year Early earned a master’s degree in theology from the University of San Francisco. It just goes to show you that a man who has never ceased teaching others knows well one of the fundamental rules of journalism — we never know it all and we never stop learning.

For his impact on Arizona journalism, his commitment to the craft and his willingness to kick some ass when the story demands it, the Arizona Press Club is proud to bestow this year’s Distinguished Service Award on a distinguished journalist indeed: Robert Early.

— Rebecca I. Allen