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David H. 'Haney' Howell Rock Hill, SC QCWA # 15743 Chapter 228 |
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Haney Howell, 75, writer, journalist, professor and avid ham radio operator, died February 11 of complications from pneumonia. He was a nationally acclaimed news reporter and producer who brought his love of journalism to the classroom to equip and inspire future broadcasters.
A native of Copperhill, TN, Howell started in radio as a DJ while still in high school, and continued in radio through several southern towns using Dick Dark and Jeff Davis as his air names, before attending Tennessee Wesleyan University. Before he completed his degree, Howell was called up for the draft and spent four years in the U.S. Air Force as an air traffic controller. During this time he¯finished his undergraduate and master's degrees at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Howell joined an international mission program and drove a VW van from Germany to India traveling down the "hippie highway" through Iran and Afghanistan. Howell worked for CBS news in India, Cambodia and Vietnam as a reporter and bureau chief in the late 1970s. He was one of the early television reporters who brought live coverage of the day-to-day operations of the Vietnam War to nightly newscasts. After the war, Howell worked as charge editor for ABC Radio news in New York before becoming a television field reporter in Denver.
In 1982, Howell returned to CBS as a producer in New York where he met and married Carol Conger Howell. Howell often said that becoming part of her large family was a major turning point in his life. In the mid-1980s, while working at CONUS Communications in Minneapolis, Howell reported on the growing HIV/AIDS crisis, pioneering the use of satellite TV to connect simultaneously HIV/AIDs experts. In 1988, Howell joined the faculty in the department of mass communication at Winthrop University ¯in Rock Hill, SC. In his 24-year tenure, he spearheaded the broadcasting program, started the radio station, advised the student television show and taught news writing. In addition to his work as a faculty member, Howell freelanced with WRHI as a sports broadcaster where he served as the lead high school football broadcaster, called several seasons of basketball and worked as the morning news anchor. In 2016, Howell was inducted into the OTS Media Group ¯Sports Wall of Fame.
Howell is the author of the novel Roadrunners, set in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. He celebrated his 50 years in radio by writing and producing a television documentary "Losing Their Voices" which aired on public television stations around the country and became part of the documentary rotation at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. In 2010, the Radio Television Digital News Directors Association of the Carolinas named the Student Reporter of the Year Award in his honor. In 2011, Howell received the "Honorary Life Membership Award" from the South Carolina Broadcast Association.
Howell will be remembered by those who knew him as a loving husband, father, grandfather, uncle and brother, a wonderful teacher, late-night ham radio operator and a consummate storyteller.
A Memory Service to Celebrate the Life of Howell will be held 2:00pm, Sunday, February 24, 2019 at Vivian Moore Carroll Hall, 883 Ebenezer Avenue, Winthrop University Campus, Rock Hill, SC 29733.
Howell is survived by his wife, Carol; children Susan Garrett and Brad (Carol) and Ron Conger; grandchildren Randy (Stephanie) and Shannon Garrett (David), Dylan and Chelsea Conger, Erica Johnson (Marty) and Brittany Conger; great grandchildren Carly Johnson and Camryn Warner; and sister Mary Louise Howell Landrum. He is pre-deceased by son Jeff Conger and brother Leon Howell.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Haney Howell's honor to Winthrop University, Department of Mass Communication, 219 Johnson Hall, Rock Hill, SC 29733.
Posted April 5, 2012 7:39 pm - By Jasmine Rutledge
Former WRHI news anchor and Winthrop University Mass Communication Professor Haney Howell spoke at last night.s Mass Communication dinner about his retirement. During his 25 years as a broadcast instructor at Winthrop, Howell says the biggest change he has seen in the department is the technology and the way students have embraced it.
Howell last worked for WRHI doing morning news in 2011. He was also faculty adviser for the student radio station, WINR. His extensive background in broadcast media has allowed him to impact student.s careers by teaching them the basics.
We learned early last year, that this would be the 25-year veteran.s last year as an educator. His biggest piece of advice to students as he departs is to be prepared to play multiple roles in today.s forever changing industry.
(Source: http://www.wrhi.com/2012/04/former-wrhi-news-anchor-retires-from-teaching-37974)
