Editor’s Note: As we gear up to celebrate 61 years of this tradition with you, let’s take a moment to remember some of the best of our previous Distinguished Alumni with Hall of Fame: Rewind. We hope you’ll enjoy reading about our outstanding alumni honorees from the past who shape the ranks of honorees of the future. Hal C. Wingo was named a 1995 Distinguished Alumnus. Wingo had a career from reporter to Life magazine editor, and even directing the coverage in Vietnam. Click here to watch interviews and speeches from previous Hall of Fame events, or click here to learn more about this year’s event and honorees.
This article was first published in the December 1975 issue of The Baylor Line.
After a recent visit to the editorial offices of People Weekly magazine, Hal Wingo’s son, Trey, made this comment:
“Dad’s job is a cinch — he just walks around, answers the phone, and sends telegrams.”
Hal is news editor for the new Time, Inc. publication. The events on a not- so-unusual closing day recently typify his job:
Christina Onassis planned to be married on a Tuesday outside Athens.
The final closing for each issue is Tuesday afternoon. Counting on the eight-hour time lapse between Athens and New York, and rechecking his backup story, Hal issued the order for full photo coverage of the wedding.
Before leaving the office late Monday night, Hal told the Athens correspondent to hire a photographer, cover the wedding, and ship the film to New York on the first plane.
Tuesday morning: The wedding was taking place as scheduled, but Hal was informed by phone that the photographer had decided to withhold all Photos for sale to the highest bidder. The photographer was fired, and the correspondent managed to procure an earlier picture of Christina — too late to make the plane.
Two hours remained before the magazine’s final deadline. Hal asked his correspondent to wire the photo. Though some quality would be sacrificed, time was now a critical issue.
Thirty minutes later: Another phone call informed Hal that UPI in Brussels refused to transmit the picture of Christina until they had a chance to transmit one of their own. Hal telephoned the UPI chief in New York, Who in turn ordered his Brussels representative to transmit People’s photo.
The picture arrived by wire at 5:15 p.m., and was rushed to the airport for its final trip to the printing plant in Chicago.
“With a sigh of relief Tuesday at 7 p.m. we knew we had beaten the clock on this particular incident. As hectic as it was, that effort to beat the deadline is one of the attractions of journalism to me. I thrive on it!” Hal said.
Hal’s fascination with news magazines began through a professor of journalism at the University of Missouri. “
I had been a newspaper reporter for the San Antonio Light for two years. While I think that newspaper work is the best possible training for a new journalist, there is something about the pace of daily reporting that did not satisfy me. I decided to leave the Light and go to the School of Journalism at Missouri. There I happened to fall under the spell of a professor whose career had been editing several national magazines in New York. His experiences were rich. He encouraged me to try magazine work.”
Hal’s “new direction” materialized in the offer from Life magazine after he received his M.A. in 1963. He first worked as a reporter in the news section of Life, handling political and public affairs assignments out of New York. From there, he went to Beverly Hills, Calif., as a national correspondent covering ten western states.
Hal says the big turn in his career came with his appointment to Southeast Asia. He was asked to cover the Vietnam war, living in Hong Kong. “I had never thought of going to the near East. I had lots of reservations — including how my family would feel.”
His family is his wife Paula, (Paula Brown, BA ’57), their daughter Nancie, born in 1958, and son Hal III (Trey), born in 1963.
“When I told Paula about the possibility of the move and asked her to think it over, she answered instantly, ‘When do we leave?’ This helped. She has always been a great person for this kind of life. She is interested in new things, and always takes the moves with a sense of adventure.”
Hal was one of the nation’s earliest opponents of American involvement in Vietnam. “I had serious reservations and questions about our role in Viet¬ nam, and nothing I saw there in three years convinced me otherwise.”
While there, Hal was promoted from correspondent to Far East regional editor. He directed Life’s coverage of the Vietnam war from 1969 to 1970, when he returned to New York as associate editor.
After two years he became senior editor, handling general production of stories related to education, religion, social issues, and contemporary American life styles.
Life magazine closed in December, 1972. Countless Americans shared the sadness of the Wingos and other Life staff members. It was the end of an era for the whole country.
Hal stayed on with Time, Inc. in their Magazine Development Group.
“By the end of the year the company was committed to the concept of People, and I was asked to be on the organizing staff. The development of this magazine has been exciting.
“I think it is fair to say that it has turned a profit more quickly than any other Time, Inc. publication.
“This suggests to me that our idea of a magazine which gets close to human personalities was right. People are more than curious about other people — they are genuinely interested.
“If I had known the day I started with Life that it would end in 11 years, I would gladly have ridden it to the end. Those years were the greatest adventure of my life.”
