Fred G. Hughes (August 16, 1915October 7, 1996) was an American

FBI agent The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

, president and chairman of the board of

The Joplin Globe ''The Joplin Globe'' is a five-day daily newspaper published in Joplin, Missouri, United States, covering parts of 14 counties in southwestern Missouri. Ottaway Community Newspapers owned the ''Globe'' from 1975 to 2002. Since 2002, it has been ow ...

, philanthropist, and one of the founders of

Missouri Southern State University Missouri Southern State University (Missouri Southern, MSSU, or MoSo) is a public university in Joplin, Missouri. It was established in 1937 as Joplin Junior College. The university enrolled 4,346 students in Fall 2021. History Missouri Southern ...

. He was a resident of

Joplin, Missouri Joplin is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, Jasper and Newton County, Missouri, Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. J ...

and was married to the former Rebekah Harris Blair.

Early life

Hughes was raised in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

and graduated in 1939 with A.B and J.D. degrees from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

. He was a member of the

Phi Delta Theta Phi Delta Theta (), commonly known as Phi Delt, is an international secret and social fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, along with Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad ...

fraternity and was selected as one of the Mystical Seven, a senior men's honorary. In 1942, he married Rebekah Harris Blair and had two daughters, Sarah Elizabeth Hughes and Mary Jane Hughes.

FBI Agent

Hughes practiced law in Joplin for a short period prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During the war, he served for five years with the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

at offices in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, and

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. At the time of his resignation from the Bureau in 1946, he was the senior agent in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

The Joplin Globe

Returning to

following his service in the FBI, he became associated with

newspaper. Over a forty-year period, Hughes served in various management positions at the paper. At the time of his retirement in 1985, he was president and chairman of the board. Hughes guided the paper through the period when newspaper production advanced from

stereotyping In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

and the hot metal process to the use of

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These programs ...

and photocomposition. He was a member of the board and served as president of the Inland Daily Press Association in Chicago, Illinois. In 1976, Hughes entered into negotiations with James H. Ottoway Sr. of

Campbell Hall, New York Hamptonburgh is a town located in the north central part of Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 5,489 at the 2020 census. The municipal offices are at the hamlet of Campbell Hall. History The town was part of the patent of ...

, which resulted in the sale of

in November of that year to Ottoway Newspapers, Inc., a division of

Dow Jones & Company Dow Jones & Company, Inc. is an American publishing firm owned by News Corp and led by CEO Almar Latour. The company publishes ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''Barron's'', ''MarketWatch'', ''Mansion Global'', ''Financial News'' and ''Private Equ ...

KOAM-TV

Hughes was a member of the board and secretary-treasurer of Mid-Continent Telecasting, Inc., which founded the television station

KOAM-TV KOAM-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Pittsburg, Kansas, United States, serving the Joplin, Missouri–Pittsburg, Kansas media market, market as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Morgan Murphy Media, which provides certain s ...

, the first television station in the

Pittsburg, Kansas Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, Kansas, United States, located in southeast Kansas near the Missouri state border. It is the most populous city in Crawford County and southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the ci ...

market. At the time of the sale of the Globe, Hughes and H. Lang Rogers purchased the Globe’s interest in the station.

WMBH-AM

Hughes and Clay Cowgill Blair Sr. owned and operated WMBH (1560 AM) with the Joplin Globe Publishing Company. WMBH was a pioneer radio station in the Southwest Missouri market.

Community

In Joplin, Hughes was president of the Rotary Club, the YMCA, and the Chamber of Commerce. In 1980, he was honored as the Outstanding Citizen of the Year by the Chamber. At the state level, he was president of the Missouri Good Roads Association, the Missouri Expenditures Survey, a member of the board of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and vice-chairman of the Missouri State Reorganization Committee (Little Hoover Commission). Hughes was a board member of the First National Bank and Trust Company. He was a member of the board of th
Mizzou Alumni Association
and chairman of the publications committee which supervised the publication of th
Mizzou Alumni magazine
He held memberships in the university’
Jefferson Club
an

In 1984, he was named a recipient of th
Faculty-Alumni Award
by the Missouri Alumni Association.

Missouri Southern State University and Fred G. Hughes Stadium

One of Mr. Hughes’ primary interests was the foundation of

, then named Missouri Southern State College. Hughes and Dr. Leon Billingsly worked with Missouri Governor Warren E. Hearnes (a Democrat) and a small group of Joplin business leaders (mostly Republicans) which, early on, advocated and worked to establish a four-year college in the Joplin area. Hughes served as the inaugural chairman of the Missouri Southern board of regents from 1964 to 1981 as well as the board of trustees from 1964 to 1986. Dr. Billingsly, the first president at

Missouri Southern State College Missouri Southern State University (Missouri Southern, MSSU, or MoSo) is a public university in Joplin, Missouri. It was established in 1937 as Joplin Junior College. The university enrolled 4,346 students in Fall 2021. History Missouri Southern ...

, and the board of regents and trustees honored Hughes by naming the football facility after him. The first game at

Fred G. Hughes Stadium Fred G. Hughes Stadium at the Robert W. Plaster Complex is located at 3950 Newman Road is a 7,000 seat football stadium for Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri The stadium opened in 1975 and cost $1.7 million. It claims to be ...

was played on September 6, 1975, and the Missouri Southern Lions defeated Emporia State 20-13. The facility was formally dedicated two weeks later on September 20, 1975, and the Southern Lions were again victorious, beating the University of Missouri-Rolla 26-6. The Fred Hughes Collection at th
George A. Spiva Library
documents the history of

between 1964 and 1983. In addition to his papers, Mr. Hughes donated his personal library which included many books related to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Philanthropy

The Fred G. and Rebekah B. Hughes community trusts continue to support higher education at Missouri Southern State University, the University of Missouri School of Journalism, the Joplin Public Library and other Joplin non-profit organizations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Fred G 1915 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Federal Bureau of Investigation agents