Earl Newsom 12/02/2011

Earl Newsom was born in Drumright, Oklahoma, in 1919, in the days when it was a thriving oil boom town. When Earl was sixteen years old, he began reporting for the Drumright Journal. At age seventeen, he won a notable state award for his journalism. After graduating from Drumright High School in 1936, he stayed on at the paper for several years. In 1941, he signed up for the navy where he spent several years in California. When World War II was over, he decided to explore Washington, D.C. He stopped at the Capitol to meet his Congressman from Oklahoma, Lyle Boren, who surprised him by asking him to work as his administrative aid. After about a year in Washington, D.C., Newsom decided to take advantage of the GI Bill and get his college degree. He returned to Oklahoma and graduated from Oklahoma A&M in 1948 with a journalism degree. From there, he earned a master’s degree at Northwestern University, where he was awarded outstanding graduate in his program. He then taught at Texas A&M for five years before returning to Oklahoma State University for his doctorate, which he completed in 1957.