By the time I became sports editor at the Lufkin Daily News in March 1990, Joe Murray had already served his time as a reporter, editor and publisher at that newspaper.

A year before I arrived on the scene, Mr. Murray was named special writer for Cox Newspapers, which meant he rarely visited the office because he was traveling the world and writing columns that ran in newspapers around the country.

When he wasn’t traveling, he was back home in Lufkin writing about East Texas. He did that until he retired in 2000, and as much as I loved his columns about his travels abroad, when Mr. Murray wrote about home, his wife, his three daughters and his dogs, he really grabbed my attention.

Mr. Murray died at his home this past week at the age of 82. If you don’t know about him, that’s understandable since he has been out of the newspaper business for more than a couple of decades.

But, if you love newspapers and appreciate good journalism that chronicles what is going on in East Texas, you owe Mr. Murray a debt of gratitude.

I don’t throw the words “legend” or “hero” around without careful consideration, but both fit when discussing Mr. Murray. He was a legendary newspaper man, and I consider him one of my journalism heroes.

Mr. Murray’s visits to the Lufkin Daily News happened about once a month during my time at that newspaper (1990-1997), but when he showed up, it was like Christmas.

He always arrived with great stories and lots of food, which is a good way to gain hero status with any journalist.

And, we’re not talking about pizza and burgers here.

Mr. Murray had a membership to the local country club, which included a certain amount of money for food each month. Because of his travel schedule, he rarely was around to use all of the food he had already paid for, so near the end of the month, he loaded up on some of the best grub in Lufkin and brought it to the office.

I’m pretty sure hugging a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist would have been frowned upon, but it almost happened several times.

Speaking of the Pulitzer Prize, that’s where the journalism hero part comes in.

Back in 1977, while he was editor at the Lufkin Daily News, Mr. Murray and young reporter Ken Herman won journalism’s biggest honor for Meritorious Public Service thanks to a series of articles leading to reforms in military training and recruiting practices.

I first heard the story nine years later when I was a student at Kilgore College and Mr. Murray spoke to my journalism class. His talk ended any doubts I had about my future plans, and set me off on a path I’ve followed for nearly four decades.

The story that won the Lufkin Daily News the Pulitzer Prize, I recall Mr. Murray telling my class, literally walked in off the streets when a heartbroken dad sat down in his office and said, “Mr. Murray. They killed my son.”

The son was Lynn “Bubba” McClure, a 20-year-old Lufkin resident who died during a training exercise at Marine Corps boot camp in 1976.

McClure probably should never have been a Marine, but was recruited, signed and shipped off to boot camp anyway. He died in San Diego while participating in a series of pugil stick bouts against larger opponents in an attempt to “toughen him up.”

The tragedy stuck with me as a human, but as a wannabe journalist, I never forgot another point Mr. Murray drove home during that speech.

“Every person you meet has a story,” Mr. Murray told us. “It probably won’t be a Pulitzer Prize-winning story, and might not even be a story that ends up in the newspaper at all. But take the time to listen anyway. Newspaper folks are the eyes and ears of the community. If we don’t tell the stories about our community, who will?”

Mr. Murray did just that with humor, compassion and determination for almost 40 years.

I never did get that hug, but I’m thankful I occasionally got to shake the hand of a true giant in the newspaper business.