By Melanie Jacob
Journal Staff Writer
You've seen them on the TV. You've heard them on the radio. You've read their work in the newspapers. This town has been the lucky launch pad for quite a few media stars, mostly from its very own Humboldt Collegiate Institute (HCI).
Amongst them was Susan Martinuk, the Rogstad brothers, Susan Burton, Penny Yeager, Al Nagy, Joan Ramsay, Kevin Waugh, and Darren Zary. Curiously enough, Norman Duerr taught at least five of those individuals in some way since he taught English and did drama productions.
"I like to think that that was the starting point," said Duerr. "That a kid like Darren Zary, who was a good student and a good writer, learned something from me."
It may have been a few decades since some of these students were under Duerr's tutelage, but that hasn't dulled his memories. He remembers Waugh, Burton, and Yeager being top students, but he also recalls some other things.
"Susan (Martinuk) had first period in the morning with me and was often late," said Duerr. "She was sent to the office for late slips and they were gems. She would give the most convoluted stories. I used to have fun reading those excuses; she was very original and imaginative."
Not all the memories were pleasant, however. Some students had more of an uphill journey than others.
"Al Nagy was a student who experienced some difficulties in school, some challenges, but who persevered and went on to have a successful career," said Duerr. "He was a student who could have posed some challenges for me as a teacher, but didn't. I found him fine to work with and who seemed to enjoy my class."
Nevertheless, Duerr obviously became friendly with some of these students. He attended Yeager's wedding and even sang at Waugh's. Some of these media people's influence may have even begun with Duerr's self-professed love for literature.
"I challenged them I think I tried to teach them how to write. We worked a lot on style," said Duerr. "When I was teaching English, we would focus on just what makes this effective in terms of the use of language, the sound of language, words, diction, and style. What makes one style more different than another."
Duerr hasn' been forgotten by his students, either. Zary is a sports columnist for the Star Pheonix and was recently awarded the Fred Scambatty award at the national level. He's been in the business for about 20 years and said he still remembers having Duerr as a teacher in Grade 12.
"Growing up in Humboldt and attending HCI, we had a number of solid English teachers, among them was Norm Duerr and Herman Bauer," said Zary. "Norm really encouraged my writing and from there it was a springboard for me. I ran for the high school paper, which was essentially a newsletter."
Despite Duerr's starting role in these people's young lives, not all of the Humboldt stars found their media inspiration through him. For people like Waugh and Ramsay, they came from other sources.
Waugh had been at CTV for 38 years and at Melfort for two years prior to that. He began as the analyst for the Humboldt Broncos at age 14 or 15 and was doing the "colour" on CVHR since there was no radio station in Humboldt at the time. He did that all the way up until leaving high school.
"Leo Wurtz was the principal (at Humboldt Public School) and executive of the Humboldt Broncos at the time," said Waugh. "He gave me some guidance he was a great influence for me going into sports reporting and anchoring. I've kept in touch with him for over 40 years."
Waugh had wanted to be a sports broadcaster since Grade 6 and that dream never died. He used to take garbage out for a cleaners in order to save up enough money for a recorder. Once he bought one, he would go out and practice doing play-by-plays, even throughout high school. In the beginning, he wasn't even paid for his work.
"I started pretty young, but it was because of Leo Wurtz," said Waugh. "He'd always help you out. He always encouraged me to do lots of high school play-by-plays."
Surprisingly, unlike Waugh and Zary, Ramsay didn't have a media influence at all. She was a self-proclaimed "breech birth baby." In other words, she just fell into the media line of work by accident. It was an accident, however, that resulted in a long and successful career in news reporting.
Ramsay has worked for various news outlets such as the Tribune in Winnipeg (no longer exists), Canadian Press Ottawa as a parliamentary reporter, Seldom News, Canadian Medical Journal and as a foreign correspondent. She worked in postings in places like Washington, D.C.; Hong Kong; London, England; and Moscow. During her career, she worked as both a reporter and as a copy editor.
Before all that, however, Ramsay was just an unknown employee working in the composing room of a newspaper. She hadn't been trained in journalism, but that didn't stop her from arguing with copy editors if they were about to make mistakes while editing. Finally, they told her to go talk to the boss about becoming a copy editor.
"That's how I became enamoured of it," said Ramsay. "I drew up the courage to talk to Jack (the editor). He made me a deal- he said I could try, but if I failed, I couldn't go back to my old job. He said it was all or nothing. I think it's because he needed to know that I was willing to take the same risk on me that he was willing to take on me."
Ramsay obviously took that risk and succeeded. She said it was all thanks to the people around her who were generous with their information and willing to teach her what they knew. It was that initial exposure that sparked her passion for sharing the news with the public, said Ramsay.
"The rest was just pure, dumb luck. It was stepping off the edge of a cliff and thinking you could fly. I flapped a lot," Ramsay said with a laugh. "Jack took a risk with me and I assume that he talked to the guys and that they said I'm worth taking a risk for, but he was ultimately the guy. The other editors gave me the courage to knock on Jack's door."
These media stars from Humboldt may have had different motivations pushing them forward, but all have one thing in common: determination. None of them gave up, despite starting at the bottom. Neither Ramsay, Waugh, nor Zary were professionally trained. They may have had some help, but it was their own persistence that got them as far as they did.
"I always firmly believed that if you raise the bar high, if they come halfway, you've achieved a lot," said Duerr. "If you put demands on them, it's amazing what they can achieve."
