James Stillman Free
November
5, 1908 - April 3, 1996
"Jim Free's byline was the warranty guaranteeing a full and fair report." - The Birmingham News, April 5, 1996
Reporter, World War II veteran, tennis player, actor, raconteur, sailor, author, husband, father, grandfather, Jim Free was all of these.
Born on November 5, 1908, in Gordo, Pickens County, Alabama, he was the only child of Henrietta Bell and James Sylvanus Free. Moving to Tuscaloosa at age six, he entered the public school system and at age 16, the University of Alabama. Along the way he developed a passion for books, tennis, football, acting, writing, the National Guard and R.O.T.C. In 1930, graduate degree in hand from the Columbia School of Journalism, he could not find a newspaper job. Defying the Depression, he tried acting, sailing the Caribbean, wandering through Central America, selling insurance, working for the WPA and the TVA and running a debt-ridden weekly newspaper. In 1935 he got a job with the Birmingham News.
He made his way to the Washington Star in 1937 via the Richmond Times-Dispatch. In 1941, he joined the staff of the new Chicago Sun , but left after Pearl Harbor to become a Naval officer. Sent to the Caribbean for German submarine intelligence duty, he soon moved to the Pacific Theater, often facing enemy fire as a Beach master, putting troops ashore.
At the War's end, he rejoined the Chicago Sun
bureau, but soon became Washington correspondent of the Birmingham
News , 
retiring
at age 71 in 1979. His coverage during a period of critical social and
political change earned him recognition from the Raymond Clapper Award
Jury, the Society of Professional Journalists and the University of Alabama
Alumni Association. Long-time historian of the Gridiron Club, Jim authored
The First 100 Years: A Casual Chronicle of the Gridiron Club.
He was a 57-year member of the National Press Club and a former chair
of the Congressional Press Galleries.
In 1950 he and newspaper colleague, Ann Cottrell, were married. They co-authored numerous articles and columns and became parents of Elissa Blake Free, who followed them into journalism, spending 21 years at CNN. They are the grandparents of Amanda Blake Nooter born in 1991.
Jim was buried on April 17, 1996 with full military honors (he retired as a Captain in the Naval Reserve) in Arlington National Cemetery. His papers are in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.
Congressional Record Tribute to James Stillman Free by Sen. Howell Heflin
Professional Oral History -- available online through the oral history collection of the National Press Club.
His papers are in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.
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