John Hacker turns 60

I can't remember when I first met John Hacker. I know it was more than 30 years ago because at this time in 1995, he was working part-time at the Carthage Press while attending Missouri Southern State University.

He was closing in on 30 when I first hired him and it started a habit I never quite abandoned. During my years at the Press, I hired John three times. 

During that approximately five-year period, he took photos, wrote sports. covered breaking news and government meetings and even spent time as lifestyles editor.

I've always thought one of my strengths as a reporter was my ability to move seamlessly from one type of reporting to another. During my newspaper days, I covered the meetings, did features on baby shows and wrote more than 3,000 sports stories.

Despite that versatility, John had me beat in two areas- he was and is an excellent photographer and even when he writes things that people don't like (in other words, he writes it the way it happened), those people still like him. (I could use some help in that area.)

Since he moved into this area from Harrisonville to attend MSSU, John has been a fixture in local journalism, keeping the Carthage Press alive and informative for years despite GateHouse Media's relentless and eventually successful effort to destroy it.

If I remember right, I'm not the only one who has hired John three times. The Joplin Globe, where John's work remains one of its few saving graces, has also brought him back whenever he was available and there are times when it seems like he's the only one who's writing anything for our area's newspaper of record.

And while it wasn't quite the same as when I was at the Press, 14 years ago, I hired John for a fourth time, at least sort of.

After I decided that a book needed to be written about the May 22, 2011 Joplin Tornado, the first person I called was John Hacker because I knew he would have photos and stories and we could work from there.

For the next year, John not only worked on the original 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado but he also offered in-person coverage of nearly every tornado-related event that happened for the next year during the recovery process. That work, which he did in addition to his work at the Carthage Press, provided much of our follow-up book Spirit of Hope: The Year after the Joplin Tornado and was repurposed in our 10th anniversary edition of 5:41.

John's writing and photos were instrumental in making 5:41 the best-selling book about the Joplin Tornado online for the past 14 years.

Last night, a milestone in John's life was celebrated by his many friends during an event in Carthage. As hard as I find it to believe, since I still think of him as one of the kids who worked for me over the years, John's friends, and as I noted before, they are many, celebrated his 60th birthday. The actual birthday is today.

Even if you don't know John Hacker, you owe him a debt of gratitude for the work he has done to keep community newspapers, a dying breed, alive in this area. John kept the Carthage Press going years after its expected expiration date and he may well be doing the same thing for the Joplin Globe now.

The secret to John's success is basic. He has a reporter's curiosity and he likes people.

And people like him.

Happy 60th birthday, John!