Reprinted on February 3, 2005

Sam Attlesey Scholarship Roast

April 2, 2003

Death of Veteran Political Journalist
Sparks Outpouring of Memories and Tears

Sam Attlesey remembered the Alamo - and he was dadgummed good political reporter, too.

Actually, he was a great political reporter - one of the best. During an illustrious career that spanned more than a quarter of a century, the name Sam Attlesey became synonymous with Texas politics. He was born to cover Texas politics. He loved his job. He lived it.

The veteran Dallas Morning News reporter died Wednesday morning after a yearlong battle with cancer. He was 56.

Attlesey was known for his warmth and wit, his unassuming charm, his downhome friendliness and a positive attitude that never wavered. He was genuine - and his passion for the things he loved was unrivaled. The news of his death struck a chord of emotion from Austin to Washington and many of the places he often visited along the campaign trail in between.

"Sam Attlesey was a fine political reporter who had a deep love of Texas and our history," President George W. Bush said. "Sam was a man of humor and had a great heart. Sam was an honorable man."

Governor Rick Perry said Attlesey "set the standard" for political coverage in Texas for decades. "His professionalism and knowledge were second to none, and he used his insight and wonderful sense of humor to bring Texans a little
closer to the inner workings of their Capitol," Perry said. "He will be missed, but he also will be remembered as one of the best journalists of our time."

Attlesey was diagnosed with lung and liver cancer in March 2002. He moved back home to East Texas and continued to write his Sunday column in between chemotherapy treatments. His final column was published on January 26 about the time he learned from his doctors that there was nothing more they could do.

Attlesey died in his sleep at Hopkins County Memorial Hospital in Sulphur Springs, where he had been admitted recently with pneumonia, said Wayne Slater, the Morning News' Austin Bureau Chief. His sister. Carol, was with him when he died.

"Sam fought his battle with cancer for more than a year with the kind of grace and determination that we all knew as marks as of his personality," Slater said.

Attlesey was an avid Chicago Cubs fan - and he loved to read about and write about the Alamo and its history. His gentle, humble nature is reflected in a quote included in the Dallas Morning New's account of his death today. "If somebody ever says of me that I was a pretty good political reporter and I remembered the Alamo, that's dadgummed good enough for me."

A native of Sulphur Springs, Attlesey graduated from Baylor University with a degree in government and earned a second degree in journalism at East Texas State University. He worked as a sports writer for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal before joining the Dallas Morning News in 1977. He moved to Austin in 1984 to write a weekly column and cover the daily political and government beat as a member of the state Capitol Bureau.

Services for Attlesey are pending.

He is survived by his mother, Judy Attlesey; his sister, Carole Wilks; a nephew, Damon Wilks, and his wife, Laura Wilks, and their son, Kenneth Wayne Wilks II, all of Sulphur Springs.