Al Neuharth

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Allen Harold "Al" Neuharth (March 22, 1924 – April 19, 2013) was an American businessman, author, and columnist born in Eureka, South Dakota.

He was the founder of USA Today, The Freedom Forum, and its Newseum.

Early life

Al Neuharth was born in Eureka, South Dakota, to a German-speaking family. Neuharth's parents were Daniel J. and Christina, who married on January 11, 1922. Daniel died when Al was two. Al needed to help his family survive the Great Depression. He worked on his grandfather's farm. As a youngster, he also delivered the Minneapolis Tribune but he gave that up for a better paying job in the meat industry, sweeping up in the meat plants and slaughtering animals. Neuharth graduated from Alpena High School in Alpena, South Dakota, where he worked for Allen Brigham, owner of the local newspaper, the Alpena Journal. At the age of 19, Neuharth served in the Army during World War II. As a member of the 86th Infantry Division, Neuharth was deployed to France, Germany, and the Philippines.

Education

After the war, Neuharth attended the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, where he edited the school newspaper, The Volante. He maintained an affiliation with the university and had an office in the Media & Journalism building, the Al Neuharth Media Center, until his death in 2013. Neuharth founded the Al Neuharth Free Spirit Scholarship, which is awarded to graduating high school students who exemplify the qualities of a "free spirit" and aim to pursue a career in journalism.

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News career

Neuharth and fellow USD alum Bill Porter founded SoDak Sports, a weekly newspaper devoted to covering the sports scene in South Dakota. Despite its initial popularity, the weekly SoDak Sports went bankrupt in a year's time, losing Neuharth the $50,000 he had borrowed.

After his failure, Neuharth went to the Miami Herald, where he made his way up to assistant managing editor. In 1960, the Knight newspaper chain (later a part of Knight Ridder), which owned the Herald, sent him to its Detroit Free Press, which was fighting an uphill battle with the Detroit News, which Neuharth would later buy while at Gannett.

After Neuharth decided that he could go no further in the Knight organization due to the Knight family's control, in 1963 he accepted Gannett head Paul Miller's offer to move to Gannett's headquarters in Rochester, New York to run its paper there, the Democrat and Chronicle. In 1966 he took charge of Gannett Florida. He started Today in Cocoa, Florida, which eventually became Florida Today. The color schemes used in Florida Today became an inspiration for the initial format for USA Today. He then ran the boardroom under Miller, whom he eventually succeeded in 1973. He helped to build Gannett into the largest newspaper company in the United States. During his tenure, Gannett revenues expanded 1,450%. In 1979 Gannett owned 78 daily and 21 weekly newspapers, seven television and over a dozen radio stations, outdoor advertising plants, and the Louis Harris & Associates research firm. The reason Gannett purchased Harris was because the firm was doing extremely expensive research for Neuharth to determine the advisability of starting a new national newspaper.

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Awards and honors

• Bronze Star Medal
• Horatio Alger Award (1975)
• First male from the newspaper industry to win Association for Women in Communications' highest award, the Headliner Award
• Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1982)
• Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism (1988)