'Grassroots' reporter gives to scholarship
By Crystal Hartwig
J Alumni News staff
Tom Allan has been giving to the Nebraska community for the past 61 years. At the age of 84 has found a creative way to give specifically to students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Allan, a retired reporter and writer for the "Nebraska Byways" column in the Omaha World-Herald, has written a book titled, "To Bucktail and Back." The proceeds from book sales will go to the Tom Allan Fund in Journalism, an endowment he initiated in 1993.
"I put together a book that shows some of the articles that were written over the years in 'Nebraska Byways' and the stories behind those articles." Allan said. "It's about my experiences throughout the years as a reporter." The "Nebraska Byways" column featured stories about people across Nebraska.
Not many can say they have experienced half of the situations Allan has encountered over the years. Some say Allan found his stories by sheer luck, but his theories on reporting challenge those critics.
Allan began his career reporting for the Wellington Daily News in Kansas. Then when World War II broke out, he put his career on hold and enlisted to help defend his county. After the war, Allan returned to Kansas and began reporting for the Topeka Daily Capital.
On Nov 7, 1947, Allan went to work for the Omaha World-Herald as a police reporter. Allan said he soon realized the best stories were not always the big stories.
"You have to get off the big stories that will turn over a prize," Allan said. "Don't forget to stop and stoop over to pick up a daisy."
In his nearly 60 years of reporting, the most important lesson Allan learned was that it isn't the big stories people remember but the little ones. Allan should know. He has covered events in Nebraska ranging from the Charlie Starkweather murders to major catastrophes that have plagued the state, but he is most famous for his columns about Nebraska people and places. Allan said he tried to find the stories people had within themselves. He said those are the stories people tend to care about.
He told of his first encounter with this hometown reporting theory when he went on a local call to take pictures of a dinner between a former student and his retired kindergarten teacher. "I was only planning to take some pictures; I told them I couldn't promise anything would be run in the paper," he said.
"As I talked with the 59-year-old student and 92-year-old teacher, I realized another important lesson:" never forget to ask one more question. Allan asked the teacher what she remembered most about the student. " She never had children of her own, and she saw her students as her children. She said, 'At that age, all children are beautiful, all children are wonderful.' And with a sparkle in her eye the teacher grew quiet. She had passed away." Allan said.
Allan wrote the story of the teacher, and it ran across the nation and even in other parts of the world including Australia and Russia. Allan said it wasn't the world coverage that made him feel good. Instead, it was knowing that the teacher's family was taking each clipping and putting it into a scrapbook as a keepsake of their loved one. It made him realize the importance of finding the humane side of every story, he said.
"I realized the stories people will remember are the ones that mean something to them." Allan said.
Allan graduated from Ottawa (Kan.) University in 1940 with a degree in journalism. Over the years, Allan's reporting has earned him many honors, including induction into the Nebraska Journalism Hall of Fame.
Allan's family includes his son, Tam, of Lincoln, and daughter ,Mary Miller, of Denver. Allan's wife, Marilyn, to whom he credits much of his success, died three years ago.
Allan's book, "To Bucktail and Back," was released Nov. 15.
"The book gives advice to visitors of Nebraska on how to really see Nebraska," Allan said.
Will Norton, dean of the journalism college, said the college was delighted Allan had decided to bolster the scholarship fund he founded by contributing proceeds from his book.
"Tom Allan is a model of grassroots reporting," Norton said. "To have a scholarship in his name in our college is an honor for all of us. It is extremely thoughtful and generous of him to have tied his contributions to this school to productive journalism."
Allan's final advice to UNL's future reporters is, "You have to get off the super highways to find the stories. If you really want to see Nebraska, get lost. And always remember to stoop and pick up that daisy. Your best story is always around the next bend in the road."
