One of life’s simpler pleasures, never coming back, was reading the great daily newspaper columnists. Royko in Chicago, Caen in San Francisco, Breslin in New York.
North Carolina had many talented journalists in the decades before the industry’s economics collapsed, and truth-telling daily columnists became an unacceptable expense for newspaper publishers. At the top of that list was Jerry Bledsoe, who died on New Year’s Eve at age 84.
Jerry lived in Randolph County and spent much of the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s writing for the News and Record of Greensboro. It was never the “best” newspaper in North Carolina because of its more limited ambitions and staffing than peers in Charlotte and Raleigh.
But during the newspaper’s prime in the 1980s and ‘90s, it was universally agreed that its staff was remarkably skilled, with a long list of journalists including Jim Schlosser, Stan Swofford, Greta Tilley and others. “On any given day, the News & Record would publish the best single story in North Carolina,” says Seth Effron, who worked at the paper from 1985-93.
The Greensboro paper also had Jerry, whose fearless style skewered anyone showing the least bit of pretension, always taking the side of underdogs with a blue-collar authenticity not associated with stereotypically liberal journalists.
His work attracted national attention and was published in Esquire and other national publications. His 1988 New York Times best-seller, “Bitter Blood,” is a true-crime classic that told of the murders of members of three wealthy Southern families.
Jerry’s talent was matched by his complexity, as is the case with so many high achievers.
His ego made life hellish for his editors, who put up with his anti-authority shtick because they knew readers bought the paper because of his writing. The Charlotte Observer lured him away from the Greensboro paper, an idea that fizzled quickly. Jerry had no time for the Queen City’s boosterish, pro-business style, which was often reflected in the Observer’s coverage. Constant battles with editors led to a quick exit.
In a sign of true courage, veteran News & Record Editor Ned Cline hired Jerry back to Greensboro. He told me he did so because no one could report and write an important story better than Jerry. He and his family also needed health insurance.
High Point writer Tucker Mitchell recalls a column written in response to a News & Record story about a fancy Gate City society shindig. “This ticked Jerry off (his natural state) because it sounded uppity, and not in keeping with his background on the mean streets of Thomasville,” Tucker says. “So he wrote a fake society column about some kind of event at a pool hall he used to frequent in Thomasville. The key line was something like this: `Luminaries lined the beaten path leading into the Cue and Stick. There was Sweet Willy, Lonesome Pete, One-eyed Joe, Bubba Lee Hinson, and many more. Some were more ‘lit’ than others, but all combined to make it a magical night.'”
Jerry excelled because of his insatiable curiosity about a vast number of topics. While best known for his crime coverage, he wrote a book, “Built on a Rock,” about how Jerry Neal started RF Micro Devices, one of North Carolina’s most important tech startups. The company is now called Qorvo and is valued at more than $7 billion.
About 25 years ago, Jerry left the News & Record in an angry huff after turning in a 250-inch story, which his editors said had to be trimmed to about 100 inches – still extraordinarily lengthy by any standard.
Jerry wouldn’t accept such editing. He never understood the economics of newspapers, Ned Cline told me.
Starting his own book publishing company, Jerry became a harsh critic of his former employer. In 2002, he published “Death by Journalism,” which attacked the work of a News & Record journalist who reported on a community college course in Randolph County in which the instructor supposedly claimed that slaves in the South were happy. Jerry says the reporter made the story up; the newspaper stood by its writer, and the teacher died amid the controversy.
Between 2006-08, Jerry wrote a 92-part series for the Rhino Times alternative newspaper in Greensboro that focused on alleged misconduct, racial disparities and internal practices of the city’s police department. It stirred lots of anger in the city, but also included sharp criticism of the News & Record and some staff journalists.
Beyond Jerry’s bark and mean streak, he had a huge heart and was intensely compassionate. Among his closest friends was my pal, the late Elizabeth House, a News & Record page designer who also handled graphics for Jerry’s publishing business. Bricks, as everyone called her, was almost as acerbic as Jerry and suffered lots of health problems, but Jerry stuck by her through thick and thin.
Remember the famous Groucho Marx line, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member?” Jerry is not a member of the UNC Chapel Hill Journalism Hall of Fame, which purports to honor the state’s industry icons. I suspect Jerry would like it to remain that way.
David Mildenberg is editor of Business North Carolina. Reach him at dmildenberg@businessnc.com.