Herb Brock |
Herb Brock might be the only reporter in America who doesn’t own a cell phone. He did pickup the e-mail thing a couple of years ago, but he still doesn’t know how to attach a file.
Twitter followers? Facebook friends? You could count Brock’s on a closed fist; he doesn’t have any.
For a self-described “windbag,” the infinite space of the blogosphere would seem ideal for Brock to “ramble on and on” to his heart’s content. But “Brock’s Blog” never launched on amnews.com
Brock’s trademark humbleness aside, his 31-year career at The Danville, KY Advocate-Messenger — which came to an end at the end of the year — has been interesting to say the least. Perhaps “storied” is the best way to describe Brock’s legacy, because he has helped tell the story of Danville, its surrounding communities and its people so well for so long.
Brock, 62, was born in Lexington but grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Atlanta and Kansas City as his father, Louis Brock, moved frequently as a salesman for General Electric. His mother, Mary Elizabeth Creech, was raised in Danville.
Brock returned to Kentucky to attend Georgetown College, where had a double major in history and English while serving as editor of the college newspaper. He also met his wife, Jerry, at Georgetown.
Brock came of age during the turbulent 1960s. He was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War and was particularly moved by the Civil Rights movement.
His first job was as a “flak” for the state Justice Department before moving on to The Cynthiana Democrat, where he stayed for five years before Mary Schurz, The Advocate’s longtime editor and publisher who died earlier this year, hired him in 1979.
Brock brought his “Off the Record” column with him from Cynthiana, and it didn’t take long for his liberal musings on local, state and national politics to start the sparks to flying.
Brock subsequently used his Frankfort connections to engineer one of his proudest achievements, the Rally on the Square political gatherings the newspaper hosted at Constitution Square State Historic Site. Beginning in 1987, Brock organized the old-timey event that brought candidates for statewide office to Danville every four years during primary season to speak and rub shoulders with voters.
Brock suffered a heart attack in 2002, and when he returned to work he retooled his role at The Advocate to focus on the kinds of stories he liked to do best. Instead of an assigned beat, he focused on news features and in-depth reporting, along with regular stories on churches and businesses. His “People” profiles of everyday citizens graced Monday editions for seven years, putting more than 350 work-a-day folks like school bus drivers, mechanics and Walmart greeters in the spotlight for a day.
Perhaps the proudest moment of Brock’s time at The Advocate came toward the end when his son, David Brock, joined the paper’s newsroom two years ago. The younger Brock said his father always encouraged him to write but never tried to steer him into a career in journalism. That came about naturally because of the example set by his dad, he said.
Twitter followers? Facebook friends? You could count Brock’s on a closed fist; he doesn’t have any.
For a self-described “windbag,” the infinite space of the blogosphere would seem ideal for Brock to “ramble on and on” to his heart’s content. But “Brock’s Blog” never launched on amnews.com
Brock’s trademark humbleness aside, his 31-year career at The Danville, KY Advocate-Messenger — which came to an end at the end of the year — has been interesting to say the least. Perhaps “storied” is the best way to describe Brock’s legacy, because he has helped tell the story of Danville, its surrounding communities and its people so well for so long.
Brock, 62, was born in Lexington but grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Atlanta and Kansas City as his father, Louis Brock, moved frequently as a salesman for General Electric. His mother, Mary Elizabeth Creech, was raised in Danville.
Brock returned to Kentucky to attend Georgetown College, where had a double major in history and English while serving as editor of the college newspaper. He also met his wife, Jerry, at Georgetown.
Brock came of age during the turbulent 1960s. He was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War and was particularly moved by the Civil Rights movement.
His first job was as a “flak” for the state Justice Department before moving on to The Cynthiana Democrat, where he stayed for five years before Mary Schurz, The Advocate’s longtime editor and publisher who died earlier this year, hired him in 1979.
Brock brought his “Off the Record” column with him from Cynthiana, and it didn’t take long for his liberal musings on local, state and national politics to start the sparks to flying.
Brock subsequently used his Frankfort connections to engineer one of his proudest achievements, the Rally on the Square political gatherings the newspaper hosted at Constitution Square State Historic Site. Beginning in 1987, Brock organized the old-timey event that brought candidates for statewide office to Danville every four years during primary season to speak and rub shoulders with voters.
Brock suffered a heart attack in 2002, and when he returned to work he retooled his role at The Advocate to focus on the kinds of stories he liked to do best. Instead of an assigned beat, he focused on news features and in-depth reporting, along with regular stories on churches and businesses. His “People” profiles of everyday citizens graced Monday editions for seven years, putting more than 350 work-a-day folks like school bus drivers, mechanics and Walmart greeters in the spotlight for a day.
Perhaps the proudest moment of Brock’s time at The Advocate came toward the end when his son, David Brock, joined the paper’s newsroom two years ago. The younger Brock said his father always encouraged him to write but never tried to steer him into a career in journalism. That came about naturally because of the example set by his dad, he said.
