W. Ferrell Shuck, Publisher (January 24, 1932-?)
Ferrell to his colleages and friends, he was the long-time publisher of the Lee's Summit (Missouri) Journal, and was inducted in the Missouri Press Association Hall of Fame in 1996. (1)
Early Life: Named for the professional baseball pitcher Wes Ferrell who played in the inaugural All-Star game in 1932, Ferrell was born in Guide Rock, Nebraska to Loren and Ella Shuck. He lived in many Nebraska towns as his father struggled to find work as a tavern operator, salesman, and butcher. The family ended up in McCook, Nebraska, where in 1946, his parents divorced. Ferrell lived with his mother Ella and took a job as a newspaper delivery boy at the McCook Daily Gazette. As he progressed through high school and at the McCook Junior College, he found work with the Gazette as a sports writer, covering among other things, the junior college football team. As he recalled later: "People were always calling us up in the sports booth to get the score of the game. We quickly learned to answer the phone with 'Christian Science Reading Room,' which put a stop to the calling." Soon after obtaining a two-year associates degree, he was hired as advertising salesman at the Gazette.
Marriage and family: Ferrell dated and fell in love with Janice Antonette Ruda, who was attending a beauty operators school in McCook, away from her family in nearby Atwood, Kansas. Her parents were wheat and corn farmers in Atwood, and she was the eldest with three brothers and three sisters. The couple married in 1957, moving the next year to Miles City, Montana to take a job as advertising manager for the Star, a daily paper there. They had a daughter, Beverly, in 1958 in Miles City, a son Greg (1960), and daughters Cindy (1961) and Julie (1965). The latter three were born in Omaha, Nebraska.
Mid-Career: In 1959, Ferrell took a job as advertising salesman for the Omaha World Herald until 1965. In that year he was told by a colleage of a publisher's job in the town of Lee's Summit, Missouri. The population was less than 7,000. He approached the owner of the weekly paper, J. W. Brown, and was hired. Brown was also the owner/operator of the Harrisonville, Missouri weekly, the Cass County Democrat.
New friends: On his first visit to Lee's Summit, Ferrell met Vick Balke, who introduced himself on Third Street in front of the Dine-A-Mite Tavern. The two entered the tavern, which served as a starting point for the formation of scores of friends Ferrell would enjoy throughout his career at the Journal. The friends later moved on to other establishments, including the Do Drop Inn, the VFW hall, and the Lion's Club. Ferrell had no military service, but tragically, a half brother had died in Guadalcanal in 1942, and friends urged Ferrell's honorary membership in the VFW. Ferrell was offered membership and he happily joined. He was known for a quick wit, and was often offered the tavern floor for short speeches. Two of his favorite came from the Carnegie school: "On the plains of hesitation lie the bones of countless thousands," and "Ninety percent of the things you worry about never happen. The rest you can handle."
Early Journal Years: There was a small competitor of the Journal when Ferrell took on the publisher position. He increased readership with superior editorial content, solid sales tactics, and with newspaper bingo, in which call letters and numbers were inserted into advertising. The winning reader won a small prize from a named advertiser. Over the years there were other competitors, including the Lee's Summit Examiner, from Independence, Missouri, and the Lee's Summit Tribune, from Kansas City. The Journal also competed with the daily Kansas City Star, especially for national advertising. Kansas City was a scant 17 miles from Lee's Summit. An annual cooking show was offered by the Journal at the Lee's Summit High School, and the Journal sponsored a professional trick basketball team against the school district teachers, as well as a basketball game with the teachers v. the Kansas City Chiefs. The Journal maintained its hold of readership through many clubs and associations including the Lee's Summit Chamber of Commerce. The Journal sponsored annual parades and a parade honoring the Lee's Summit Journal centennial edition in 1981. (2)
Trouble: In 1974 Ferrell was asked by J. W. Brown to serve as publisher of the Bates County Democrat in Butler, Missouri, a failing newspaper. In fact, all but two of the former employees of the Democrat started a competitor across the courthouse square. Neither newspaper was thriving. Ferrell formulated an exit plan. As he recalls: "The owner of the JC Penney store two doors from the Democrat was known to be a gossip. I spread the rumor through him that I had been offered a publisher job in small Iowa town. The JC Penney proprietor took the news to the competition and within 24 hours I was offered $48,000 for the Democrat. I took it and ran." The move saved the family coffers. Ferrell moved back to the Journal but with a new son-in-law of J. W. Brown in the waiting. Ferrell left the Journal for a job at the Townsend Publications papers in Kansas City, but the marriage failed, and Ferrell returned in 1975.
Later career: The Journal and Cass County Democrat were purchased in 1985, but Ferrell maintained his position as publisher. Lee's Summit had grown to 35,000, and with it the Lee's Summit Journal. The Journal moved its publishing to two per week, then three. Ferrell's salary was increasing as well, but in 1999, the owner was approached by the Kansas City Star, and it was sold to them. Ferrell, no friend of the Star, left the Journal for the last time. Over the years he became close with the manager of the paper, and offered advice. In 2010 the new conference center at the Journal was named after W. Ferrell Shuck.
Pastimes: Ferrell was a baseball coach in McCook for an American Legion team in the 1950s, and maintained an affinity for the game. He now watches nearly every Kansas City Royals game with Janice at their home in south Lee's Summit. He watched as the Nebraska football team thrived in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.
Family Man: Ferrell and Janice have three granddaughters, Erica, Abbey, and Adrianna, and four grandsons, Aaron, Truman, Jefferson and Blake.
(1) http://www.mopress.com/hall_of_fame.php (2) Lee's Summit Journal, July 1, 1981, p. 3A