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.
