By RON MALY
Chuck Offenburger, the paper's Iowa Boy columnist in the good old days, emailed an interesting question to me after reading my recent column about the late Randy Duncan.
Chuck Offenburger, the paper's Iowa Boy columnist in the good old days, emailed an interesting question to me after reading my recent column about the late Randy Duncan.
"You
mentioned his full name, Hearst Randolph Duncan Jr.," Offenburger wrote. "He was named after
his
father, obviously. But in your chats with Randy, did it ever come
up whether the family had any ties to William Randolph Hearst, the
legendary newspaper publisher?"
I wrote back to Chuck that, no, I hadn't ever asked Randy Duncan in my many conversations with him if his family had any ties to William Randolph Hearst.
I don't know if anyone else did either.
I don't know if anyone else did either.
But now I wish I would have.
William Randolph Hearst [pictured], who was born in 1863 and died in 1951, built the biggest newspaper chain in the nation, stretching from San Francisco to New York. His chain included almost 30 papers, and he also got into magazine publishing.
After thinking about Offenburger's question, it would've been fun while writing a story about Randy Duncan's achievements in a Hawkeye football game to start:
"Hearst Randolph Duncan Jr. was spectacular, completing 16 passes in 20 attempts--five for touchdowns--in Iowa's 45-0 victory over Wisconsin."
But somehow I don't think Randy Duncan would've preferred that.
To all of us, he was just Randy.
And like I wrote earlier, we'll miss him.
William Randolph Hearst [pictured], who was born in 1863 and died in 1951, built the biggest newspaper chain in the nation, stretching from San Francisco to New York. His chain included almost 30 papers, and he also got into magazine publishing.
After thinking about Offenburger's question, it would've been fun while writing a story about Randy Duncan's achievements in a Hawkeye football game to start:
"Hearst Randolph Duncan Jr. was spectacular, completing 16 passes in 20 attempts--five for touchdowns--in Iowa's 45-0 victory over Wisconsin."
But somehow I don't think Randy Duncan would've preferred that.
To all of us, he was just Randy.
And like I wrote earlier, we'll miss him.
