Editor passes
Simmons recalled as tough but fair
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette political editor Bill Simmons, who died Monday in Little Rock, works with colleague Glen Chase in the newsroom in this Sept. 21, 2010, file photo.
Bill Simmons, who spent more than a half-century in journalism, including almost 16 years as political editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, died Monday at his home.
Simmons, 71, had been in declining health but was determined to do his fair share in a busy election season.
“He came into my office a few weeks ago and said he didn’t have much longer to live but he wanted to work up until the end,” Managing Editor David Bailey said. “He asked me if that was OK, and of course it was OK. That’s the kind of man he was for as long as I’ve known him.”
Indeed, Simmons worked Friday and sent work-related emails Sunday night.
“I was impressed with several things about Bill,” Publisher Walter E. Hussman Jr. said. “First, he was an honest, straight shooter. He was honest with himself, too, not just others. What also impressed me was he went around giving Bibles to others. You don’t hear that about people in journalism, giving out Bibles.”
Bill Simmons’ son, Toby Simmons, director of network services at the newspaper, said his father suffered from diabetes and its complications. In spite of that, “He was incredibly dogged in getting his work done,” the son said. Colleagues knew that Bill Simmons was a devout Christian; Toby Simmons said his father was at one time a lay minister and preacher at a nondenominational Baptist Bible church.
Simmons grew up in North Little Rock and graduated from North Little Rock High School. He started his journalism career in 1958 as a copy boy at the Arkansas Gazette, where he later became a sportswriter. He moved to The Associated Press in 1962, first in
Little Rock and later in Detroit. Simmons became chief of the Little Rock AP bureau in 1990.
He retired from the AP in 1996, and on Jan. 2, 1997, started work at the DemocratGazette. He was responsible for coverage of politics and government. Simmons’ coverage of state politics went as far back as the administration of Gov. Orval E. Faubus.
Griffin Smith, the newspaper’s former executive editor, hired Simmons after his long career with The Associated Press.
“I tried to think about who Bill was, and there really is, as everybody knows, two Bills — the profoundly committed Christian and the consummate newsman. Those existed in separate spheres, but the intersection made him who he was,” Smith said.
“People deeply respected him because he was fearless and fair. That’s what Bill’s professional career stands for to me,” Smith said. “He was phenomenal. He could pick up the phone and get anybody in state government because they knew he’d be fair and not agenda-laden. That’s an immense compliment over a career for a journalist to build, that reputation for character.”
Gov. Mike Beebe said Simmons was “tough, but fair, and you can’t ask for more than that. He had a great nose for what was significant and what the people really need to know about and what they want to know about. Once he got the bit in his mouth he took off. He was a great journalist.
“He was tough on me when he needed to be, but I count him as a friend and I’m going to miss him.”
Harry King worked at the AP with Simmons for many years. King is a sports columnist for Stephens Media in Little Rock.
“He was the best reporter,” King said. “He asked every question, never left a news conference saying, ‘Boy, I wish I’d asked that question.’ He was a pro’s pro. Never intimidated. I’ve never seen Simmons back down from anyone.”
Earlier this year, Simmons was honored by the Arkansas Press Association. For that occasion, King offered two anecdotes.
Simmons was famously logical and concise. One night, King recalled, a tornado killed several people in Northeast Arkansas. The news was sent to the AP’s general desk in New York, which called back with a question: How did the tornado kill those people?
Said Simmons to New York: “Sometimes tornadoes throw people through things. And sometimes tornadoes throw things through people.”
Simmons would try anything, King said.
“I have heard him calling convenience stores in the path of a tornado. He once called a jail where there was a hostage situation and wound up talking to the person who was holding a gun on the hostages.”
Simmons spent many years covering the state Capitol. Beebe was a freshman senator — “I didn’t know what I was doing” — when Simmons crooked a finger at him during a legislative session.
There was a mistake in a piece of legislation, Beebe said. “He called my attention to it, and we stopped whatever it was. He was also a teacher and in effect he was teaching me, and doing it for the best public policy of the state.”
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee, a former presidential candidate who now hosts a show on Fox News, responded by e-mail:
“Bill Simmons has been an institution in the Arkansas media for many years. Arkansans could always count on Bill to bring a candid perspective on the issues he wrote about. Bill did not pull punches, and he always stood for what he believed was best for Arkansas. Bill will be missed. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Simmons family during this trying time.”
Skip Rutherford is dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service and a longtime figure in Arkansas politics and government. He remembered that Simmons was a fan of the original Browning’s Mexican restaurant in Little Rock’s Heights neighborhood.
“I should associate him with journalism and politics, but that’s where we had some of our most enjoyable and engaging conversations,” Rutherford said.
“He was a tough but fair writer whose pursuit of a political story was as thorough as anybody I’ve ever been around. When Simmons was on a story, he was on a story.
“When I go home,” Rutherford said, “I’m going to go by Browning’s, and go in the door. ”
... Bill Simmons’ wife, Jane, died in 2009. They had been married 47 years.
Toby Simmons said his father is also survived by a daughter, Teddi Cole of Little Rock, and her husband, Troy; a brother, Toby Simmons of Pine Bluff, and his wife, Carolyn; six grandchildren; one great-grandchild and another on the way. He was preceded in death by a brother, Jerry.