Journalism hall of famer and columnist Mark McCormick on his life and work
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How did Mark McCormick’s childhood in Wichita shape his passion for journalism?
Mark McCormick has written for Kansas Reflector since summer of twenty twenty one. The distinguished journalist has a long career with stints at the Wichita Eagle, the Kansas African American Museum, and the ACLU of Kansas. He also co wrote a book with his lifelong friend Barry Sanders. McCormick was inducted into the Kansas Press Association's Hall of Fame in November of this year. And we're glad to welcome him to Kansas Reflector Podcast today to talk about his life and work. My name is Clay Wirestone. I'm the opinion editor at Kansas Reflector, and I've had the privilege of working with Mark for most of my time on staff. Mark McCormick, welcome to the Kansas Reflector Podcast.
Oh, good
to be here, Clay. So let's just start at the beginning. Tell me a little bit, Mark, about um where you grew up uh and and kind of how you How you first engaged with the world?
Mm.
Um
Grew up in Wichita, Kansas? Uh the child of a machinist and a nurse? My older sister Uh was fourteen when I was born. And um In high school she was the high school journalist of the year. And so Between her influence and The fact that we had So many photographs in the house, like really old photographs of our relatives. And um My dad even had a lot of uh super eight. uh film of us, you know, of me in particular. Um I was interested in images and interested in writing. And um I think by the time I was in the eighth grade in taking uh media courses. I was pretty sure what I wanted to do. Uh for career at as early as that. Oh sure. In fact I had a I had a fantastic English teacher. Her name was Alice Lewis. Um She was the second African American teacher I ever had.
Uh my kindergarten teacher was also African American, but Mrs. Lewis was the first person Uh to tell me that she thought that I could Right for a living.
Now, you know, a lot of times I think when people go into journalism or writing, there's there's something that they have memories of in terms of reading when they were young. Was there some and I'm not looking for a specific book or author because obviously there's probably a lot, but do you remember some things that kind of sparked you when you were a kid?
Uh still sound Pretty nerdy. But um I'd spend afternoons after afternoon after afternoon. Uh reading comics.
Oh sure.
And um in fact Right over my ear here. Um You might not be able to see it or the audience might not be able to see it, but Uh I read a lot of Fantastic Four comic books and The Silver Surfer. Who was a pacifist? Um And there was a lot of uh social commentary kinda woven into Marvel Comics that I didn't realize until I was grown. I didn't realize for example that uh Magneto had been patterned after Malcolm X. Or that per s Professor Xavier Uh was supposed to be some kind of embodiment of Dr. King. Um But I'd yeah, I'd spend hours and hours uh reading comic books. And um I think I developed um an ability to write because I had read so much. Like if you talk to a lot of good writers, they they're people who read a great deal.
Mm-hmm. And that was true with me, in fact. That was me sneaking some vegetables onto the plate of my kids. Uh I would take 'em to get comic books and you know, just to get 'em excited about reading. Sure.
Well and I think especially as you were saying if you're someone who has interest in both words and images. Yeah, which I I mean I was definitely that way as a kid too. I drew a lot. And so yeah, I I read a huge uh amount of comics as well. Um because you know, what other Form kinda do gives you both of those things.
Yeah. I I couldn't draw very well. It would frustrate me that I couldn't draw like the characters looked in the comic books, but I I sure read 'em.
So So now uh you know, you fixed fairly early uh that sh that you wanna write, that you wanna do that as a living. So, you know, kind of take us then into um into your college years, um into that kind of uh into that realm. I know we y you and I have spoken before, not for this podcast, but for other other projects. I I I'm pretty sure in saying that that that was a really formative time for you.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Mark McCormick’s childhood in Wichita shape his passion for journalism?
0:00–6:48
2
What role did comic books and early media courses play in developing his writing skills?
6:48–12:33
3
How did a summer journalism camp at KU become the gateway to his college journalism career?
12:33–18:19
4
What were Mark’s first professional steps after college, including his early internships and first newsroom job?
18:19–25:36
5
How did Mark evolve from a reporter to a metro columnist at the Wichita Eagle and what challenges did he face?
25:36–31:32
6
In what ways did Mark transition into nonprofit work and museum leadership after his newspaper career?
31:32–37:46
7
What did being inducted into the Kansas Press Association Hall of Fame mean to Mark and how did he reflect on his legacy?
37:46–43:36
8
What are Mark McCormick’s current projects and future aspirations beyond journalism?
43:36–49:57
Speakers
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