Fred G. Hughes (FBI agent)

Fred G. Hughes (August 1915 – September 1996) was an American FBI agent, newspaper publisher, philanthropist, and one of the founders of Missouri Southern State University. He was a resident of Joplin, Missouri and was married to the former Rebekah Harris Blair.

Early life

Hughes was raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and graduated in 1939 with A.B and J.D. degrees from the University of Missouri. He was a member of the Phi Delta Theta 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

Hughes practiced law in Joplin for a short period prior to World War II. During the war, he served for five years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation at offices in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Maryland, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the time of his resignation from the Bureau in 1946, he was the senior agent in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Newspaper publisher

Returning to Joplin, Missouri following his service in the FBI, he became associated with the Joplin Globe 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 and the hot metal process to the use of computers and photocomposition. He was a member of the board and served as president of the Inland Daily Press Association in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1978, Hughes entered into negotiations with James H. Ottoway, Sr. of Campbell Hall, New York, which resulted in the sale of the Joplin Globe in November of that year to Ottoway Newspapers, Inc., a division of Dow Jones & Company.

KOAM-TV

Hughes was a member of the board and secretary-treasurer of Mid-Continent Telecasting, Inc., which founded the television station KOAM-TV, the first television station in the Joplin, Missouri / Pittsburgh, Kansas 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-AM with the Joplin Globe Publishing Company. WMBH was a pioneer radio station 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 the Mizzou Alumni Association and chairman of the publications committee which supervised the publication of the Mizzou Alumni magazine. He held memberships in the university’s Jefferson Club and Law Society. In 1984, he was named a recipient of the 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 Missouri Southern State University, 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 first chairman of the board of regents and trustees of the college from 1964 to 1978.^[1]

Dr. Billingsly, the first president at Missouri Southern State College, and the board of regents and trustees honored Hughes by naming the football facility after him. The first game at Fred G. Hughes Stadium was played on September 6, 1975, and the Missouri Southern Lions defeated Emporia State 20-13.^[2] 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.

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, the First Presbyterian Church, and other Joplin non-profit organizations.

References