George Bugbee, who became sports editor emeritus of the “Memphis Press Scimitar” in 1973 after forty-five years of service to the paper, was one of the most-renowned sports writers in the nation. Bugbee, an avid golfer and follower of horse racing, was born in Hochheim, Texas, in 1904. He attended secondary schools in San Antonio and Little Rock, Arkansas, and graduated from Lonoke High School. College days found Bugbee at Southwest Texas State University, where he played in the orchestra, worked on the yearbook, and edited the paper. He moved to Memphis in 1927 and landed a job with the “Press Scimitar” as a reporter. Bugbee later moved up the ladder to telegraph editor and editorial page columnist. His column, “Good Evening,” was always a popular feature of the paper. In 1935 Bugbee became sports editor. He wrote a daily column for almost forty years, until his retirement in 1973. Among his many contributions to the sporting world, Bugbee was president of the Southern League Sports Editors Association and was a judge for the Ernie Pyle National Journalism Award. He won sports-writing awards from the Southern League, the University of Tennessee, and various other institutions and organizations. Luckily for the state of Tennessee – and Tennessee sports specifically – Texas’ native son George Bugbee found his way to the proud city of Memphis, and the rest, as they say, is history.
