Who are the 9 new members of The Daily Texan Hall of Fame and the 3 new Rising Star Award winners to be honored April 4 on the UT campus?

• A highly respected globe-trotting foreign correspondent specializing in stories about Mexico and other parts of Latin America who  has won numerous awards for his in-depth coverage;
• The first instructor to teach photojournalism at the University of Texas, and photography supervisor for Texas Student Publications; his work is in permanent collections of numerous renowned art museums;
• A member of the Texas Newspaper Foundation Hall of Fame, she went from rookie reporter and being jailed for jailed for refusing to testify about unpublished information from an interview with a murder case defendant to  become the  newspaper’s first female publisher and a tireless worker for First Amendment rights;
• From The Texan sports staff, he became a member of the Exxon Mobil Corp. legal team, serving six years  as General Counsel; new executive director of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Energy Center at UT;
• Former photographer and photo director for Texas Student Publications, picture editor at Associated Press’ Washington bureau; at major metro led the newsroom on company-wide technology changes as Assistant Managing Editor for photography, design and graphics;
• Shortly after graduation became a foreign correspondent in Costa Rica, covering major stories, including fugitive financier Robert Vesco; later joined his father and brother in Texas family business and diversified   the company; creating multiple successful business;
• A former Managing Editor of The Texan, graduating with B.J. and later earning a law degree; clerked for a federal appellate judge; practiced at a prominent Washington, D.C., law firm, where he represented newspaper and broadcast clients; as a law professor for 25 years at the University of Arkansas, much of his scholarly work focused on media law issues, notably FOI statutes;
• An American cultural historian and media scholar, and Robertson professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia; permanent columnist at The Guardian and Slate; a frequent contributor on media and cultural issues in various periodicals;
• An award-winning sports editor for The Daily Texan, which led to his 27-year career with National Football League; assistant general manager to Cowboys’ Tex Schramm; General Manager of the New York Jets.
• Longer bios of honorees are below.

These nine Daily Texan Hall of Fame honorees will be honored April 4 at the 12th annual gathering of Friends of The Daily Texan, Inc.

Previous honorees include Walter Cronkite, Lady Bird Johnson, Willie Morris, Liz Smith, Liz Carpenter and other distinguished Texan grads.

In addition scholarship grants from the Friends group and donors will be presented to 13 Daily Texan staffers.

You may register to attend here:
https://friendsdailytexan.wildapricot.org/event-6006159

In addition to introduction of Texan Hall of Fame honorees, the event will also celebrate the 125th anniversary of The Daily Texan.

Event attendees will view a trailer of a documentary film being prepared by former Texan staff staffer Quin Mathews, a respected Dallas journalists producer of documentaries.

The gathering will begin at 5 p.m. with an outdoor reception on the Walter Cronkite Plaza, located between the Texas Student Media building and the Moody College of Communication complex. There will be a variety of food and beverage stations.

Also beginning at 5 p.m. will be a tour and visitation time at the adjacent Daily Texan offices.

The reception ends at 6:45 p.m., and then moves to a comfortable Moody auditorium for Hall of Fame inductions and awarding award of scholarships to Daily Texan staff members.

The event will begin at 7:15 p.m. and end at 9:30 p.m.

This year, 13 Daily Texan staffers will receive annual grants from the Friends of The Texan group and its partners.

Since 2018, 49 Texan staffers have received annual scholarship grants.

Please join us and visit with friends and colleagues; the evening will renew your faith in journalism, both today and for tomorrow.

The Friends group is a non-profit organization founded in 2013 which supports The Daily Texan in a variety of ways, including financial support, scholarships for students, covering costs of the Texan’s underlying website structure and in other ways as needed.

Hall of Fame Honorees

Jack Balagia, a former sports staff member of The Daily Texan, was on the legal team at Exxon Mobil Corp. for nearly two decades. He served as vice president and general counsel from 2010 until his retirement in 2016. As general counsel, he led a global law department of 450 lawyers and 350 support professionals across 31 offices worldwide. During his time at Exxon Mobil, Balagia played a key role in guiding the company through a wide range of legal challenges, from litigation and regulatory compliance to corporate governance.

Balagia, who graduated in 1976, has been named the new executive director of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Energy Center. He brings a wealth of knowledge and leadership experience from his distinguished career in the energy and legal sectors.

Balagia has been a steady presence at UT and the UT law school since retiring from Exxon Mobil. He has served as an adjunct professor at Texas Law, teaching an upper-level course in oil and gas law every spring. He was chair of the Law School Foundation board of trustees for four years, and now has senior trustee status.

Throughout his career, Balagia has served in numerous capacities with committees of the State Bar of Texas, including several years as chairman of its public affairs committee. In 2000, the Texas Supreme Court appointed him to the Court’s Board of Disciplinary Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Texas lawyer disciplinary matters. He served as chairman for two years. In 2016, the Court appointed him to the Texas Commission to Expand Civil Legal Services.

 

Libby Averyt, former staff member of The Daily Texan, started her newspaper career in 1986 at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, covering the night police beat. That was the start. She spent her entire 30-plus year journalism career at the Caller-Times.

She started on the news side, and as a reporter was jailed for jailed for refusing to turn over unpublished information from an interview with a murder case defendant. She later moved to the advertising side and ended her career as president of the newspaper. During her tenure, she established herself as a capable and courageous reporter and editor, an energetic and innovative revenue producer and the respected chief executive of one of Texas’ most-rewarded newspapers. At the same time, she was active as a civic leader and volunteer.

Her journalistic commitment was recognized with the Edward Willis Scripps Award for Distinguished Service to the First Amendment. In her more than 20 years in the news department, Averyt moved up in the ranks from rookie reporter to executive editor. While heading the newsroom, she led the newspaper to recognition five times as Newspaper of the Year, along with numerous other awards, from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors Association. She also served a stint as the online general manager and vice president, later becoming vice president of advertising. On Jan. 1, 2014, Averyt made history as the first woman to be named the newspaper’s publisher and went on to lead the newspaper through several changes of ownership. Under Gannett ownership, in addition to serving as president of the Caller-Times, she oversaw Gannett’s news operations in Abilene, San Angelo and Wichita Falls. Throughout all her roles in the newspaper industry, Averyt exemplified all the best of newspaper journalism and did so with passion.

In 2024, she was inducted into the Texas Newspaper Foundation Hall of Fame.

 

 

Joe Phillips began at The Texan as a sophomore and during the next three years he worked stints as an editorial assistant, various desk jobs, editorial assistant and on the sports staff, including a semester as sports editor.

A desire to be a foreign correspondent landed him in Costa Rica three months after graduation. He soon was filing stories with The Miami Herald, UPI and AP. Six months after arriving in San Jose, he borrowed a small sum from his parents, joined forces with a middle-aged Berkely J-grad and former columnist for The Rome Daily American, Patricia McNair. They founded the English-language The San Jose News, a weekly published at a local Spanish-language newspaper. His career in Costa Rica also included covering fugitive financier Robert Vesco, who was accused of looting more than $200 million from mutual fund IOS.

In 1980, Phillips was invited back to Texas by his father and younger brother to join the small family petroleum distribution company and serve as an intermediary in their frequent disputes. The company had been growing since Phillips’ brother, Tommy, had returned to McAllen in 1976, and the growth accelerated with Joe’s arrival. By 1986, Phillips Properties, Inc. had begun focusing on building and operating convenience stores and contracting third-party owner-operators for retail fuel sales. Between 1990 and 2000, Phillips Properties diversified into multiple businesses, including pay phones, video game arcades and branded fast-food outlets.  By 2000, it had become one of the largest convenience store/truck stop operators in South Texas and the largest Texas-owner of Burger King franchisee in the state.

Joe has been a strong financial supporter of the UT School of Journalism in endowing the S. Griffin Singer Professorship in Journalism and other journalism programs. His family also has played a major role in the city of McAllen, where he lives and has served as s school trustee.

 

 

Dudley Althaus, who earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984, is a highly respected globe-trotting foreign correspondent specializing in stories about Mexico and other parts of Latin America and the world. In so doing, he won numerous awards for his in-depth coverage, discerning analysis and lyrical writing.

While at UT, Dudley was working nearly full time as a bartender to make ends meet, so he didn’t have a lot of time to spend at The Daily Texan.

But he did his best. One of his stories was a deep dive look at the strain that population growth was forcing on the Edwards Aquifer, an issue that remains relevant.

Dudley’s first newspaper job after getting his degree was at the Brownsville Herald, where he spent two years covering Mexican border cities and cross-border business. While there he was promoted to city editor. Next up was the late, lamented Dallas Times Herald. There he was a business reporter, writing, among other things, about the economics of the 1986 U.S. immigration reforms. After a year, he was promoted to chief of the paper’s Mexico City Bureau. After four and a half years at the Times Herald, Dudley was hired as chief of the Houston Chronicle’s Mexico City bureau. His success led the Chronicle to create an international desk under assistant managing editor Fernando Dovalina, another UT journalism grad and Hall of Fame inductee. The newspaper’s reach soon extended beyond Mexico to other parts of the world. Dudley covered developments in other Latin America countries, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. He spent 22 years at the Chronicle, and it was there that he turned himself into the most successful and most respected foreign correspondent stationed in Mexico.

 

 

Al Ward discovered his passion for sports writing during his college years where he was an award-winning sports editor for The Daily Texan. He began his career as a Texas sports reporter before launching his 27-year career with the National Football League (NFL).

His career started as the director of public relations for the American Football League in 1960. When the league moved its offices to New York, Ward became director of public relations for the Southwest Conference and the Cotton Bowl until rejoining the AFL in 1965 as director of promotions. He joined the Dallas Cowboys after the 1965 season as director of public relations and became assistant general manager to Tex Schramm in 1966. He was named vice-president in 1972.

He served as General Manager of the New York Jets during the last of the Joe Namath years (1975-1977), American Football Conference assistant to the president (1977-1988), and NFL ALUMNI Chief Operating Officer (1988-1990).

After seeing Jets secretary Connie Carberg’s abilities to judge players on their skills, in 1976, Ward gave her a full-time position in the scouting department and she became the NFL’s first female scout in history.

Ward died in 2022. His life motto: “Everything is going to be all right.” The third of five children, Ward grew up in Brownsville, Texas. He was known as “Old 88,” a superb football player and good student. His hero was always his mother, Lula, from whom he learned how to cook, to work hard and to love others deeply. After high school graduation and service in the post-WWII Army, Ward attended the University of Texas in Austin, earning a journalism degree. Ward discovered his passion for sports writing during his college years where he was an award-winning sports editor for The Daily Texan. Ward retired to Austin in 1990, adjusting quickly. He filled his days with golf, cooking, Texas Longhorn football, grandchildren and travel.

 

 

Stanley Farrar has had a distinguished career as a photojournalist and director of photography at major media publications. In addition, he held a key position at a major metropolitan newspaper helping direct technology changes that swept through the newspaper industry over the last several decades.

After graduating with a philosophy degree from UT Austin, Farrar worked as a photographer and photo director for Texas Student Publications. He then went to the Associated Press’ Washington bureau as a picture editor. Farrar returned to Austin as Director of Photography and Graphics at the American Statesman. After seven years at the Statesman he began a 25-year stint with The Seattle Times.

He began as Assistant Managing Editor for photography, design and graphics and represented the newsroom on company-wide technology changes. He was a member of a small team which began the first online operations at the Times. Farrar served for 10 years as managing editor and executive producer for seattletimes.com and for his last three years in Seattle was project manager for the implementation of a new newsroom publishing system. Since retiring and returning to Austin, he has served on the board of the Austin Center for Photography and done volunteer work for the Hill Country Land Trust.

 

 

Frank  Armstrong is a Hall of Fame honoree, but his is a unique Hall of Fame award, created in honor of long-time journalist and beloved UT professor Griff Singer. Armstrong learned photography in the Navy in the late 50s while stationed in Alaska. A

fter spending his last two years of college at UT Austin, he was hired as photography supervisor for Texas Student Publications (now TSM). Three and half years later he was hired to teach photojournalism at UT and work half-time for the University News and Information Service.

During those years he established a relationship with renowned photographers Russell Lee and Garry Winogrand, and that fostered a cooperative exchange with the UT Art Department. During his time with UT News and Information Service, he became interested in making images in the rural areas of Central Texas and a portfolio of that work was awarded a Dobie-Paisano Fellowship in 1979.

After a move to Philadelphia in 1983, he partnered with other photographers to establish the Southwest Photography Workshops, leading photographers into the wilds of Big Bend and southern New Mexico. During the summers from 1980-1986 he was an assistant to Oliver Gagliani at the Virginia City Zone and Fine Print Workshops. After a family move to Worcester, Massachusetts, he joined the faculty of Clark University. He retired from that position in 2021.

Armstrong has maintained an active exhibition schedule nationally and is represented by the Steve Clark Gallery in Austin and Gallery Kayafas in Boston. He has works in permanent collections including the Museum of Modern Art, Houston Museum of Art, Amon Carter Museum, HRHRC Photographic Collections, Fitchburg Art Museum, Worcester Art Museum and many private collections.

 

A Fort Worth native, John Watkins  was managing editor of the Texan in the spring and summer of 1970. He received his B.J. degree at the end of the summer term, an M.A. a year later, and a law degree in December 1976. Thereafter, he clerked for a federal judge and practiced at a large law firm before becoming a law professor. Much of his scholarly work focused on media law issues.

Watkins arrived at the Texan in a circuitous manner. Soon after entering UT in fall 1967 as an architecture major, he realized that he would never pass a required engineering course. A year later, he joined the Cactus staff, having worked on his high school yearbook. Fellow staffer Gary Taylor, who doubled as a Texan sportswriter, suggested that he write for the newspaper. In spring 1969 he joined the Texan sports staff.

The following fall, he covered news as well as sports. In mid-November, he was one of six Texan staffers who traveled to Washington, D.C., to report on the Moratorium March to End the War in Vietnam. Three weeks later, he was in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to help cover the “Game of the Century” in which the top-ranked Longhorns defeated the number two Razorbacks, 15-14, with President Nixon looking on.

As a graduate student in 1970-71, Watkins was a teaching assistant, first for J.B. Colson in the photo lab, then for Griff Singer in J322. After teaching high school English and journalism for three years, Watkins returned to UT for law school. He was able to afford it only because Singer arranged for him to work again as a T.A. in the reporting lab.

Watkins began his legal career as a law clerk for the late Judge Homer Thornberry of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. After the clerkship, he practiced law in Washington, D.C., with the prominent firm of Arnold & Porter. He worked for a variety of clients, including newspapers, broadcasters, Major League Baseball, and Braniff Airlines. After a hectic two years, he decided to go into teaching.

For three years, Watkins taught at Baylor Law School before joining the law faculty at the University of Arkansas. Over his 25 years in Fayetteville, he taught courses in media law, civil procedure, federal jurisdiction, and conflict of laws. And in an ironic twist, he was an adjunct professor in the School of Architecture, where his course covered the myriad ways that law affects architectural design.

Watkins is the author of three books: a media law textbook, an influential book on the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, and, with two co-authors, a treatise on Arkansas civil practice and procedure. He also wrote some four dozen journal articles, several on media-related issues.

After retiring, he and his wife Joan moved to Fort Worth to be closer to family.

 

Siva Vaidhyanathan is an American cultural historian and media scholar, and the Robertson professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. He was a Daily Texan staff member 1986-89, serving as a columnist, news reporter, news editor, associate editor and also wrote entertainment articles.

Vaidhyanathan is a permanent columnist at The Guardian and Slate; he is also a frequent contributor on media and cultural issues in various periodicals including The Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Times Magazine, The Nation, Slate, and The Baffler. He directs the Center for Media and Citizenship at the University of Virginia, which produces a television show, a radio program, several podcasts, and the Virginia Quarterly Review.

At UT, he and attended the University of Texas at Austin, earning a BA in History in 1994 and a Ph.D. in 1999 in American Studies. From 1999 through the summer of 2007 he worked in the Department of Culture and Communication at New York University, the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Columbia University.

From 1988 through 1993 he was a professional journalist working for several Texas daily newspapers. He has appeared in an episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to discuss early social network services. Vaidhyanathan has appeared in several documentary films, including Terms and Conditions May Apply (2013), Inside the Mind of Google (2009), and Freedom of Expression (2007). In 2016 Vaidhyanathan played a prominent role in the higher-education documentary, Starving the Beast. Vaidhyanathan was portrayed as a character on stage at the Public Theater in New York City in a play called Privacy (2016). Vaidhyanathan is a fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities and the Institute for the Future of the Book. Vaidhyanathan serves on the board of the Digital Public Library of America.

 

 

Rising Star 2025 Award Winners

Fernanda Figueroa is a reporter at The Associated Press, where she writes about Latino Affairs.

She is also a sailor for the US Navy Reserve. Before joining the AP, she worked as a Community News Reporter for the Austin American-Statesman writing about government, business and transportation in Austin area suburbs.

She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in 2020 and in 2024 she received a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin. In 2021, she worked as a general assignment reporter at The Daily Texan.

 

 

Paul Cobler is a politics reporter for the Houston Landing, a new nonprofit news organization.

Previously, he spent two years working as the Baton Rouge City Hall Reporter at The Advocate in Louisiana.

He was also a DC Reporter Fellow for The Dallas Morning News in 2020. He has done internships at the Houston Chronicle, Texas Tribune, Austin American-Statesman and San Antonio Express-News. He spent a semester as a Senior Reporter at The Daily Texan in 2016. His sister Nicole Cobler is also being honored as a Rising Star this year.

 

Nicole Cobler is an Austin reporter for Axios.

She is teaching a class on newsletter writing at UT, and is on the board of Texas Student Media.

Previously, she covered state politics and business for the Austin American-Statesman.

Nicole’s work has been featured in the Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Texas Tribune and more. Nicole spent two years in The Daily Texan basement as a reporter, associate news editor and a member of the paper’s tech team. She grew up in Victoria, Texas. Her brother Paul Cobler  is also being honored as a Rising Star this year.