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Updated: Monday, December 24, 2007 Published: Wednesday, July 28, 2004

President & General Manager KNBC-TV (Los Angeles)

RELATED LINKS Committed to the Cause Foreword from the 1st Edition Chuck Stone Vernon Jarrett Bob Reid Les Payne Merv Aubespin Al Fitzpatrick DeWayne Wickham Thomas Morgan III Sidmel Estes-Sumpter Dorothy Butler Gilliam Arthur Fennell Vanessa Williams William W. Sutton, Jr. Condace Pressley Herbert Lowe Jr. Remembering Vernon Jarrett (1918-2004) CREDITS Publisher Herbert Lowe Editors Jack E. White Lynn Norment Photo Editors Fred Sweets Hillery Shay Copy Editor Mira Lowe Researcher Wayne Dawkins Design & Layout Nicole Sherman Print Source & Maria A. Newman NABJ Marketing & Publications Manager & Wanda Ng Big Fish Communications Executive Director Tangie Newborn SPECIAL THANKS to Knight Ridder and the Lexington Herald-Leader for their support of this publication.

It happened fast, so fast that I had to teach myself how to work an investigation.

It was going well, but still I was down. I wanted some guidance a steady hand and a listening ear and I wanted it from an editor who I believed would believe in me and not think I was an affirmative action hire. Remember, this was the late '70s.

At my paper, there were certainly white reporters and editors who treated me fairly. I definitely had friends and colleagues among them.

But would I share with my editors my reservations about my great story? I was writing about black folks committing crimes, peddling drugs and worse. This organized gang executed another brother in cold blood. No, I kept my feelings about pulling this scab off to myself. I was a new reporter and it was the late '70s.

I felt almost hopeless. And then, Les Payne came to town.

He was a speaker at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications and I wanted to see for myself this national editor at Newsday who was a brother. I went. I listened. I watched.

Reporters, students, faculty swarmed around Les at the end. I went to Les and told him I was inspired. Hopeful that there were more Les Paynes out there, I asked if there were more because I wanted to learn from them, too. And, what Les said next was lyrical: The National Association of Black Journalists.

He said NABJ and took my breath away. The National Association of Black Journalists! I ...was ...stunned. Id never heard of it. Was it possible that there were actually enough of us to form a national organization?

NABJ, Les said, had held two earlier national conventions and the third annual would be in a few months in Washington at The Mayflower Hotel.

NABJ could have met on the moon and I would have gotten myself there. I was on a mission. I had to go to NABJ. I had to meet them the black journalists.

By coincidence, I'd taken a graduate class with a visiting professor at the Newhouse School in 1974. A year later, he became NABJ's founding president, Chuck Stone, and expertly paved the way for the association to follow.

Over the next decades, I got to know Vernon Jarrett, who I'll always remember could bring an NABJ business meeting to complete silence when he took the microphone. We knew Vernon's wisdom and we waited silently for him to teach us.

Bob Reid was the first black network TV news producer I'd ever met. I was in print and didn't understand TV, so I listened when Bob spoke.

During Les' presidency, he spoke with passion about Africa. He kept Africa and the coverage of the continent on NABJ's front burner.

Merv Aubespin was the president under whom I served as national secretary. Merv honored his board by presenting each of us with a gold NABJ lapel pin .Merv designed them and had them made from the gold he'd had melted down from a cherished family heirloom.

Al Fitzpatrick during his presidency wanted a national training academy to groom future managers and his legacy lives on through the commitment of the National Association of Minority Media Executives (NAMME).

DeWayne Wickham had the vision to continue to elevate NABJ's professionalism. DeWayne was the president who was as comfortable working in print as he was working on TV and he had the wisdom to organize a mini-conference in Jamaica between NABJ members and Caribbean journalists.

My dear friend Tom Morgan offered students better training and, therefore, more options as professional journalists. Tom championed the TV and newspaper Short Courses that have since prepared many student journalists for the future. They are editors, anchors, news executives and they have Tom to thank.

My dear sister-friend Sidmel Estes-Sumpter was a take-no-prisoners, charm-the-pants-off-you, outstandingpresident.Sidmel used her strategic powers and relationship-building skills to win NABJ friends in the media's corporate ranks.

Dorothy Butler Gilliam's skill and experience further enhanced our standing on a national level. I witnessed Dorothy's negotiating skills and remain in awe of this sister.

Arthur Fennell was a brilliant, collaborative president. Arthur's wisdom was evident when he formed his kitchen cabinet of advisors and leaders from throughout the membership. He demonstrated his excellent managerial skills during his presidency, while still doing his day job as a TV news anchor.

Vanessa Williams, like Dorothy, was from The Washington Post family of NABJ members. Her insight, fearlessness and wisdom kept NABJ on an even keel when we faced the possibility of pulling out of Unity '99.

My brother Will Sutton and I had long talks about who should be NABJ's next leader. I encouraged him to run and he exacted a promise: I had to join his campaign. As president, Will's tirelessness and passion for NABJ were phenomenal. I am honored to have served him.

Condace Pressley was our first president from radio. Her strong ties to the Radio Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) were evident as that organization worked with Unity to present annual awards for coverage of diversity.

And, Herb Lowe ...I watched Herb grow up in NABJ. More accurately, I got older and this young brother who called me friend and mentor just continued to grow. Herb brought his own wisdom and experience to NABJ, determined to carry on the legacy and do right by the old heads. The brother is one of those old souls who has been here before. I know. I've seen him in action in industry boardrooms. His focus isn't about what will they think of me? He is all about what's best for NABJ?

And, now, nearly 30 years after I first heard Les Payne say NABJ, I can say I've never skipped a convention and I pray to the heavens that I never will. If not for you, my colleagues, and for these courageous, phenomenal presidents, I might not have had the fortitude to have a journalism career.

They've left us a legacy that must not be interrupted.

In this second edition of Committed to the Cause, the 30th Anniversary Committee once again presents profiles and portraits of our presidents. Besides saluting them, the profiles superbly offer insight into our association's storied history.

For sure, there certainly still are countless young black journalists who, as I did long ago, seek advice, mentors and role models who look like them and who come from a shared experience. Today, though, they know of NABJ.

For that and so much more, we thank and honor our NABJ Presidents.