March 29, 2024

In the 'sweet-spot'

Larry Peterson, CNA's award-winning senior feature writer, talks about the path he took to a life and career he loves

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Editor's note: In print, this story was published in in two parts.

After 36 years, Larry Peterson, CNA senior feature writer, has hit a sweet-spot in his career now that he has the opportunity to "cherry-pick" what he writes about – writing feature stories about the people in the community he has made his home.

"This is the highlight right now," said Peterson who is semi-retired. "I get to do what I love, when I want."

You could say that Peterson has always had the passion for writing, which he discovered he enjoyed as a teenager.

"I got lucky," he said.

Change of plans

Peterson said, at 16, it was his plan to become a short-stop for the St. Louis Cardinals, but after his baseball coach failed to start him on varsity, he reconsidered. At the same time, a movie review he wrote for a Composition 1 class caught his teacher's attention.

"She said, 'Larry, you should think about this as a career,'" Peterson recalled.

These were the words that steered him toward a career in story-telling and news reporting.

Peterson said he enjoyed reading his hometown newspaper – The Fort Dodge Messenger – and the work of Bob Brown, the paper's sports editor.

"I got chewed out by my sister for reading the newspaper at supper, because you don't do that.

"It's not polite," he recalled his older sister Alice telling him.

His passion for journalism only flourished more in high school as he wrote for his school's newspaper. Of his first interview, he recalled being "scared to death," as he was assigned to interview his baseball coach, who Peterson said was an iconic figure in the community.

"But, it went fine," he said.

As he became more comfortable conducting interviews and writing on demand, at 18, Peterson was hired to work under the sports editor at The Fort Dodge Messenger and decided to pursue a degree.

New journalism

At the University of Iowa, Peterson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism, which he said was an exciting time for those in journalism.

"If you think about the late 70s ... Watergate and all the Presidents' men ... got us all excited about journalism. We all wanted to do it because it exposed corruption in the biggest office," said Peterson.

At the same time, something called "new journalism" – a combination of literary work and journalism – was being taught. This writing style – shared by Hunter Thompson, Tom Wolfe and Truman Capote – is what Peterson said inspires his writing style.

"Hunter Thompson would cover the campaign, but in his own distinct way ... he would just take the reader with him there ... all the stuff he was seeing," said Peterson. "That was the golden era. To work for a newspaper right after Watergate, you had status in the community ... it was a good time."

University of Iowa

During his time at the University of Iowa, Peterson was two years behind Rick Brown, son of The Messenger's Bob Brown. Rick had worked in the school's sports information office, and Peterson believes his connection to the Brown's landed Peterson an internship there.

Peterson quickly became a trusted intern and was tasked by management to write for the Waterloo Courier, which was a large paper, more than 90 miles away. Between his duties for the Courier and writing features on professors and students for school publication, Peterson was almost at full-time work status as a student.

His work at the University of Iowa Sports Information Service and The Courier helped build a portfolio which enabled Peterson to land a job, which he accepted reluctantly. However, it was that job in Atlantic that changed the course of his career and life.

Part two

As a new graduate from the University of Iowa in December 1979, for Peterson, things weren’t exactly panning out the way he had planned. With his combined experience at the Fort Dodge Messenger, University of Iowa Sports Information Service, the Waterloo Courier and the University of Florida News Service, his plan was to land a job at a “big” paper.

"Competition was tough,” said Peterson.

After spending some time working as a bus boy at a local restaurant, Peterson said he became a little less picky, went back to the job board and applied to and accepted a position at the Atlantic News Telegraph in January 1980.

That decision changed the course of his life in more ways than one.

The assignment of a lifetime

Peterson said he didn’t plan on staying long, but that changed after one of his earliest assignments for the News Telegraph – an assignment he said was the assignment of his life.

It was during that assignment, where, not only was he interviewing a YMCA program director about a new belly-dancing program she had hired a teacher for, but he happened to be interviewing the future Mrs. Peterson.

After the interview, the pair continued to talk after class and learned, not only were they both relatively new to the area, but they lived in the same apartment complex and may have crossed paths many times throughout their lives. The pair started meeting for tennis matches and their relationship took off.

“My whole concept of wanting to leave kind of slowed down,” said Peterson, who married Deb in May of 1982.

Peterson spent four years at the News Telegraph, where he did everything from writing wedding news to covering sports.

“I was working night and day, but I didn't care,” said Peterson. “I got a taste of everything there.”

Creston

Peterson’s aptitude and versatility is what caught the eye of Pat Watkins, the editor of the Creston News Advertiser, who invited Peterson to join the CNA staff in 1984. The CNA is where – despite a year-long stint from 1989 to 1990 at the Globe Gazette in Mason City – Peterson has remained ever since.

In 1993, Peterson realized the sports reporting schedule wasn’t conducive to raising his two young sons, Brett and Keith, and felt it was unfair to his wife for him to spend so much time away from home. Despite being a sports enthusiast, the decade spent in news had its value.

“You learn so much about life,” Peterson said. “Because, your job is to learn about it quickly so that you can tell others about it, and you’re working with experts in their field … I think it’s a great education.”

Of duty and humanity

Peterson said he feels he has a greater impact writing for a community newspaper than he would have had otherwise at a larger publication. While he is passionate about transparency of publicly-funded institutions, he is even more so when it comes to writing about the people of the community he serves and approaches each of their stories as if it's personal.

“You know, you are writing history in that community that people will hold on to as keepsakes,” he said.

When asked about some of his most memorable stories he has written, Peterson recalled the evening ambiance of driving home after Creston High School’s 1997 basketball state championship.

“It felt like the whole town was there,” Peterson said. “You come back from Des Moines to get on Stuart Road on those hills, and it’s red tail lights all the way – as far as you could see.”

Peterson was moved by the amount people parked in their cars along Cherry Street – blinking their headlights, honking their horns and cheering – as the athletes’ buses rolled into town.

“You should have seen the scene,” Peterson said as he described the high school gym packed at midnight. “All the seats are filled. The champions are introduced. Everybody was celebrating. It was crazy.”

While many stories from years past stand out to Peterson for a variety of reasons, some of his most treasured have included the time he detailed the life and career of the late Ron "Fox" Clinton, the miraculous recoveries of Sophia Groumoutis and Taylor Petit, the career of football star Collin Bevins, four-time state wrestling champion Jake Marlin and the illustrious career of NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, formerly of Ringgold County.

"To write about something like that, how can it get any cooler than that?" Peterson mused. "It's like having a front row seat to history."

Passing on his prized style

Peterson’s writing style aims to place the reader in the moment of the action and feel the mood, which he said is partially inspired by sports columnist Joe Falls of Detroit, Michigan.

“It was kind of conversational. It made you feel like you were sitting across the table talking,” said Peterson.

It’s this style of writing, paired with his accuracy, extensive research and continuous coverage that has garnered Peterson a number of awards from the Iowa Newspaper Association (including the Distinguished Service Award in 2015 and Best News Story, third place, 2019), Associated Press Media Editors (Best Sports Feature, first place, 2018), Iowa High School Athletics Association (News Media Award, 1997), and placement in the Creston Community High School Hall of Fame (2015), to name a few.

Ian Richardson, formerly of Afton, who joined the CNA editorial staff in 2015, said observing Peterson at work exemplified what a reporter should be working a beat.

"I noticed, overhearing his phone conversations with his sources, you could tell that he had taken the time to develop these relationships and knew his beat inside and out," said Richardson, who is currently employed as a reporter for The Des Moines Register.

Richardson, who was awarded first place for Best Slide Show (Daily II) at the 2019 Iowa Newspaper Association (INA) Awards for work he completed while employed at the Sioux City Journal last year, said Peterson's work inspired him because of its liveliness, detail and accuracy.

As young journalists enter the newsroom, Peterson is quick to offer his guidance to not only ensure the continuity of the CNA's credibility, but to mentor each of his new colleagues to their greatest potential.

"When I started at the newspaper as an intern, Larry would take time each week to meet with me and develop a new skill," said Jacob Waddingham, former CNA associate editor, who won a third place Best News Photo at the 2014 INA Awards.

Waddingham, who is now a Management PhD student at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, said Peterson helped him develop a sense of urgency in his writing, but the goal was never to rush just to get the job done.

"He helped me recognize the various story lines that appear during an event, how to shape that story with unique perspectives and do it all at the standard and timing great journalism needs and the readers deserves," said Waddingham.

Former CNA managing editor Kyle Wilson described Peterson as a firm, but fair mentor.

"He’s, bar none, the hardest working colleague I’ve worked alongside," said Wilson. "Larry taught us all the fundamentals of journalism and we were so young we didn’t even fully understand the real value of the lessons we were learning."

Wilson recalled early copy proofed by Peterson, which was "bloody" with red ink.

"He holds himself to the highest standard and he expects that from those that work alongside him," said Wilson. "His kind of excellence has a way of rubbing off on people.”

Scott Vicker, Wilson's predecessor as CNA managing editor, echoed his sentiment.

"You can see the work ethic someone like Larry has, and how much he put into it, and it’s infectious," said Vicker, who was awarded an INA Award this year (Best Breaking News Story, third place). "It really motivates you to want to do a better job and put the best work out there that you can."

The future

Peterson, who is the most descriptive storyteller of the CNA editorial staff, said he doesn't feel that he is doing anything particularly special – it's just the standard.

"I just hung around a long time and tried to keep things professional like the people who were my mentors, like Bob Brown in Fort Dodge and Max Sandeman here in Creston," he said.

Peterson said following the work of Mike Kilen, his predecessor in Mason City, made him realize there's room for precise, detailed description in almost any literary style of journalism ... particularly in feature stories.

"It was Nolan Zavoral in Iowa City who pointed out very early in my career that there's value in anecdotal material," said Peterson.

As he draws from his experience as a mentee and applies it to his role as mentor, Peterson said he appreciates the opportunity to write the long-form, magazine-style feature stories he's been wanting to focus on, and jokes he will continue writing as long as the CNA allows him through the door.

"I hope to be doing this on a part-time basis as long as I can, and as long as they'll let me," he said.