By Jason Ethridge
The Scene staff
Few people at Forest Park know that journalism instructor Repps Hudson is a Pulitzer Prize winner.
He was an editorial writer for the Kansas City Star in 1981, when tragedy struck at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. A pair of suspended walkways fell during an event, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200 others.
In the aftermath, the Star discovered that a lack of proper safety inspections led to the collapse. The newspaper won the Pulitzer for local news coverage and commentary.
“I didn’t win the Pulitzer Prize, but I was with a group of reporters who did,” Hudson said last month.
Hudson also worked with people who won Pulitzers of their own. One was Nick Ut, an Associated Press photographer during the Vietnam War. He shot the iconic photo of the badly burned “Napalm Girl” running naked down the road after an attack.
Hudson was involved in the conflict in the late 1960s, first as a solider and later as an employee of The Associated Press.
“I have been in the right place at the right time sometimes,” he said.
Hudson worked 12 years at the Star and an additional 22 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He has been a part-time instructor at Washington University for nearly 30 years and at University of Missouri-St. Louis for seven years.
Hudson joined the Forest Park staff as an adjunct in 2010. Today, he teaches Journalism 1 and Media Literacy.
“He was good,” said former student DeJuan Baskin, who took Journalism I and now serves as secretary in the communications department. “He was very hands on. He made sure that you knew what you were doing.”
Baskin recalls that Hudson was always bringing newspapers into class, trying to familiarize students with different types of professional writing.
Baskin called Hudson the “Greek god of language.”
“You can just picture him just coasting through Greek royalty,” Baskin said. “He has that attitude of, ‘I know what I’m doing. You have to get there.’”
Rancher’s son
Hudson grew up in rural Missouri, near Kansas City, in a ranching family. Even at a young age, his plans involved more than working on a farm.
“I dreamed of being a writer in a big city like New York,” he said. “I wanted to go see the world. I wanted to see what was out there.”
After graduating from Carrolton High School, Hudson made his way to the University of Missouri at Columbia, where he studied agriculture.
“I thought maybe I’d please my father a bit,” he said. But Hudson never forgot what he really wanted to do.
In 1966, he quit college, a decision that would change the course of his life. Simply reading newspaper and magazine stories about the horrific war in Vietnam wasn’t enough for him.
“I decided I wanted to go,” he said. “I wanted to be in the Army.”
After first basic training and officer candidate school, Hudson spent a year in Vietnam. He became lieutenant of Delta Company’s 3rd Brigade 1st Infantry Division, heading his platoon.
In April of 1968, the men were patrolling the thick jungle when gunfire erupted from the trees. One of the rounds struck Hudson, but the bullet passed cleanly through his upper chest, causing only a minor wound and requiring only a few minutes of a medic’s time.
Hudson considers himself lucky.
“I wasn’t hit badly,” he said. “Another inch back in or so and I probably would have been killed.”
For his service, Hudson received a Combat Infantry Badge, a Purple Heart, three Bronze Stars, one for valor; and an Army Commendation Medal, also for valor.
“I think they gave the medals away rather promiscuously,” he said, humbly. “As a way to boost morale, sometimes we got medals.”
Another significant experience in Vietnam was meeting Le thi Nhung, a Vietnamese woman Hudson wanted to marry. That’s why he returned after his discharge.
Finding Le thi Nhung was easy. Taking the next step was more difficult.
“I had no money,” he said. “I had to write my folks, and they basically said, ‘That’s your problem.’”
War reporter
With hardly a penny to his name and a talent for writing, Hudson found himself at The Associated Press office in Saigon, doing office work for respected newsman George McArthur of the Los Angeles Times.
Within months, Hudson was writing photo captions and interviewing people returning from the war-torn countryside. Some of his stories found their way into publications around the world.
In 1969, Hudson married Le thi Nhung and returned to the United States with a letter of recommendation from McArthur in his pocket. That was a big help when he applied at the Kansas City Star.
“At the age of 23, having spent three years in the Army and having had not a single course in journalism, they hired me,” he said.
Hudson started working at the Post-Dispatch in 1985. Over the years, he served as an editorial writer, political editor, business reporter and even an agriculture reporter.
One of Hudson’s favorite duties was writing a column called “On the Job.” The idea was simple: Get out and talk to people whose work helped keep St. Louis running.
“I didn’t want to talk to the CEO,” he said. “I wanted to talk to the guy that the CEO was bossing around. I wanted to talk to ordinary people.”
Along the way, Hudson managed to earn a bachelor’s degree in history from University of Missouri-Kansas City and a master’s in international relations from Johns Hopkins University.
He started teaching at Washington University in 1989. One of his students was Sandra Osburn, who now serves as communications chair at Forest Park. She hired him as an adjunct in 2010.
“He’s not just bringing book material (into class),” Osburn said. “He’s bringing his life experience. … The thing I like about him is, he’s straight forward with his approach, but he’s always willing to work with a student.”
Hudson considers now the happiest time in his life. He has been married to his second wife, Stacey, a commercial interior designer, for more than 25 years.
They have three children, including Nicola, 42, from Hudson’s first marriage; Eliana, 22, and Daniel, 20, adopted from China and Vietnam; and two granddaughters.
Hudson likes to cook, often while listening to his large collection of classical music, rock ’n’ roll and jazz records. He’s a self-described “news junkie” and avid reader, providing book reviews for the Post-Dispatch and The Jewish Light.
“I really, really like teaching (at Forest Park),” he said. “The reason is very simple: I believe very strongly in the concept of community colleges. Helping people get into a four-year school, getting started with their vocation, finding their place in life. This is what education should be.”
