Baez: Chuck Stone was my mentor

WRAL reporter Gilbert Baez reflects on the lifelong impact Chuck Stone has had on his career. The journalist and educator died over the weekend.

Posted 1:39 p.m. Apr 7, 2014 — Updated 2:57 p.m. Apr 7, 2014

Chuck Stone was my mentor.

Back in 1973, while working for the Philadelphia Daily News, he wrote an article about me winning the National “Boy of the Year” title (now “Youth of the Year”) for Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs of American. Ironically, we both ended up in North Carolina. While I was an adjunct professor at Campbell University, he inspired me to give my time to aspiring young journalists. I taught at Campbell for 15 years.

When I broke the story on WRAL that U.S. troops were heading to the Middle East to oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, he was the first person I called when I arrived in Amman Jordan with Dan Rather.

I thanked him, during that call, for being an inspiration and trailblazer for a journalist of color. And in true Chuck Stone fashion, he thanked me for giving him the strength to inspire. He told me that he and his wife, Louise, really got a kick out of seeing that youngster from Philadelphia doing news and weather on WRAL.

Rest in peace Chuck. Gone, but never to be forgotten.

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