ASHLAND — Tom Puskar was 21 years old when he landed a job with the Ashland Times-Gazette as a photojournalist.
The Shaker Heights native had just graduated from Mount Union College with a bachelor of arts degree in communication.
“It was six days after I graduated,” he said.
Puskar never took a photography class, but he had a camera. His brother, Gene Puskar — now an accomplished photographer for the Associated Press in Pittsburgh — gave him one as a gift when he got accepted at Mount Union. He took pictures here and there at various sporting events at the school, learning from costly mistakes.
“Because, you know, we used film back then,” he said.
During his senior year, Puskar landed an internship at the Alliance Review, a newspaper in town. It was unpaid, but he got some college credit for it. And some clips.
“One day I saw a fax from the Ashland Times-Gazette that they were looking for a night-shift photographer. I found some clips and applied. I sent it in and got called over for an interview,” Puskar said.
Long story short, Chic Knight, the T-G’s photo chief at the time, knew of Puskar because his son played on the Mount Union baseball team with him.
“He knew who I was before I showed up. After the interview, he told me, ‘you want the job, it’s yours,’ ” he said. “I’m forever grateful for that.”
The rest, as they say, is history. Puskar’s last day with the T-G was Friday, April 28. He was the paper’s last full-time employee.
On May 1, he started a new job as an administrative assistant for the City of Ashland, focusing on marketing efforts of Brookside Golf Course. His salary will be $44,700.
“We are so pleased that (Puskar) will now be serving the people of our community as part of the city government,” said Ashland Mayor Matt Miller. “His unique set of skills will help us better plan, market and publicize the many events we host throughout our city parks and other departments.”
It’s a job Puskar said he’s nervous about, because he’s only had one job for the last 33 years.
It wasn’t just a job, though.
Building rapport
“Tom defined what a community journalist should be. He got what was important about the job, and that was names and faces. He knew all the names and faces. That was always his strength,” said Ted Daniels, a former managing editor at the T-G who worked with Puskar for 22 years.
Daniels said every year, when the Ashland County Fair rolled around, Puskar would commit to working 100 hours that week.
“I don’t know if he ever did it, but there was one year he showed me he tracked 96 hours,” Daniels said. “I always asked him, ‘why punish yourself? You know you won’t get fully compensated for all of them, right?
“He just saw it as being important to build a rapport with the community.”
The job wasn’t just snapping photos, though. Daniels said Puskar played a big role in the paper’s transition to the digital age. For a while, the T-G had a separate website for photos he and other photographers had taken. The photos were then made available for purchase.
“He took the lead on that,” he said, adding the website became successful in selling many images.
When the paper became thinner throughout the years, Puskar made sure the paper’s kids feature continued, Daniels said.
Dusty Sloan described that side of Puskar as “going to bat” for people in the community.
“That’s what makes a hometown local photojournalist important,” he said. “It’s one thing to write about something, but parents put pictures in scrapbooks.”
Sloan, who now works as Ashland University’s director of athletic communications, started at the T-G in 1993. He was 16 at the time. Puskar took him under his wing, so to speak. Over the years, the two became good friends. Puskar was Sloan’s best man in his wedding.
“(Puskar) became part of the fabric of this community” Sloan said. “It ain’t easy working at a local newspaper a lot of the time. But he did it anyway. And it was always for all the people.”
Yeah, it was hard at times.
“It was a wild ride,” Puskar said.
From ‘capable’ to ‘outstanding’
Mel McKeachie, 88, hired Puskar alongside Knight. McKeachie, who since 2011 lives in Wayne County, retired in 1997. When asked what he remembered about Puskar in those early years, he said, “I just thought he was a good employee. He was capable.”
“But over the years — and I’ve been following — he went from capable to outstanding. I see most of his stuff online now. His stuff is just … I’m just very impressed and have been. As a former editor, I was very appreciative of his work. And I’m sure his bosses have been very appreciative,” McKeachie said.
When asked what he’ll remember the most, Puskar said he couldn’t pick just one thing as he rattled off sports events at local high schools, the junior livestock fair and the city’s bicentennial event.
“It was just an honor for me do that type of stuff,” he said, returning to the bicentennial event after a brief pause.
“The city’s bicentennial was a big event. The T-G did a decade by decade history of Ashland for that. And if someone did that again, my photos will be included in that, you know? That’s what I’ve taken pride in,” he said.
