Baugh, Jay

Jay Baugh was born in 1903 and began writing for the Kinsley Mercury while still in high school. He became the youngest newspaper editor in Kansas when he purchased the Montezuma Press in 1923. In 1946 he purchased the Johnson Pioneer , and sold the paper in 1960 after suffering two coronary occlusions.

Baugh then wrote part-time for the Ulysses News, and during his last few years directed the news and editorial policy for Waterman Publications, which included the News and the Pioneer, the Haskell Co. Monitor-Chief, and the South-west Kansas Irrigator.

Long known as the "dean of Southwest Kansas Newsmen,” Baugh was honored in 1970 by the Southwest Kansas Editorial Association for his 50 years of newspapering. An outspoken promoter of western Kansas, he died in January, 1973.