Tuesday, May 13, 2008

G. Hamilton Rigg


This is G. Hamilton "Ham" Rigg, at work as news editor of the Tipton Tribune in November, 1966.
Ham was my editor at my first newspaper job. I worked at the Tribune from September 1, 1966 to Feb. 3, 1967 when I left to be a reporter at The Indianapolis News.
I learned a lot of stuff from Ham, who was a genuinely nice guy and also covered sports for the Tribune. I'm told he was instrumental in a lot of Tipton County kids getting athletic scholarships to colleges and universities.
Mostly, I remember Ham as a lonely little guy who drank every night and always smelled of booze. I heard he died of cancer a few years after I left Tipton, so I guess I caught him in the twilight of his newspaper career.
At some point in his career, Ham was a sportswriter for the Muncie Star. The Muncie Star Press memorialized him with the Ham Rigg Award, given to the most outstanding athlete at the Central Relays in Muncie. This year's winner was Eric Streit, a senior at Shenandoah High School.

3 comments:

virginia said...

Did he ever mention having a son in va ? He left shortly after he was born and went west . Thanks for sharing your post .

The Oracle said...

I don't recall him ever talking about his family. In fact, I didn't even know he was from Virginia.

virginia said...

Thanks I was curious if he had .