A young Hugh Hough once reported Sandwich High School athletic contests for the Sandwich Free Press. Decades later, he stood among the most respected journalists in the country as a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize.
Between those two moments came military service, a journalism education, small town newspaper work and more than twenty years of reporting for the Chicago Sun-Times. Yet Hough never completely left Sandwich behind.
A Sandwich Beginning
Hugh Frederick Hough was born in Sandwich on April 15, 1924, the son of Forrest and Lila Hough.
His father, known around town as “Kate,” served for many years as custodian at Sandwich High School. A 1974 Sandwich Free Press account remembered Forrest Hough as one of the best read men in town and someone “everyone knew and loved.”
Hugh attended Sandwich schools and was active in student life. By 1939, he was president of his sophomore class and played on the school basketball team. He also began developing the skills that would shape his future career, writing reports of local high school sporting events for the Sandwich Free Press.
It was an early beginning for a young man who would eventually earn journalism’s highest honor.
Wartime Service
After graduating from Sandwich High School, Hough entered military service during World War II.
Local accounts described his service as being with the Army in the Mediterranean theater of operations. Military records connect him with the 465th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces, where he served as a staff sergeant.
The distinction is important: the United States Air Force did not become a separate military branch until 1947. During Hough’s wartime service, the air arm remained part of the Army.
After receiving his discharge, Hough returned to Illinois and began preparing for a career in journalism.
The University of Illinois
Hough entered the University of Illinois in 1948 and quickly distinguished himself as a journalism student.
Sandwich newspapers followed his progress closely. In 1949 and again in 1950, they reported that he had been selected for university honors recognizing academic excellence. In September 1950, he was appointed editor of the Daily Illini, the university’s student newspaper.
He received his degree from the University of Illinois School of Journalism in February 1951. The graduation announcement published locally identified him as Hugh F. Hough of 115 East Hall Street in Sandwich.
His university years brought another important development. Hough had met Ellen Marie Wasemann while attending Illinois, and the two married in 1948.
From Dixon to Chicago
Following graduation, Hough became sports editor of the Dixon Evening Telegraph.
In December 1952, he accepted a position on the news staff of the Chicago Sun Times. A short announcement in the Sandwich Free Press noted that his new assignment would take him beyond sports reporting.
That move began a long association with the Chicago newspaper and placed Hough in a newsroom where persistence, careful sourcing and a willingness to follow difficult leads would eventually bring him national recognition.
Reopening a Notorious Murder Case
In 1973, Hough and fellow Sun Times reporter Art Petacque received information from a dying organized crime figure. Their investigation uncovered new evidence connected to the still unsolved 1966 murder of Valerie Percy.
Percy, the 21 year old daughter of Illinois political leader Charles Percy, had been killed inside her family’s home in Kenilworth. The crime had attracted national attention but remained unsolved.
Hough and Petacque spent weeks pursuing the new information. Their reporting examined links among professional burglars, a stolen jewelry operation and the Percy home. The evidence they uncovered prompted authorities to renew their examination of the case.
The reporters did not claim to have solved the murder. Their achievement was something more careful and more defensible: they uncovered credible new evidence strong enough to reopen official investigative efforts in a case that had grown cold.
A Pulitzer Prize
In May 1974, Hugh Hough and Art Petacque were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Local Investigative Specialized Reporting.
The announcement found Hough at home in LaGrange Park on his day off. According to the Sandwich Free Press, his wife, Ellen, answered the telephone call bringing the news.
Hough was uncomfortable making too much of his own achievement. He described himself as someone accustomed to interviewing others, not being interviewed. He also emphasized that the work had depended upon cooperation from editors, fellow reporters and others at the newspaper.
The Pulitzer carried a $1,000 award, which Hough and Petacque divided. The Sun Times matched that amount and divided another $1,000 between them. Each man also received a Marshall Field Award, presented by their employer for outstanding general reporting and writing.
Sandwich Celebrates Its Hometown Reporter
Sandwich took particular pride in Hough’s accomplishment.
The Sandwich Free Press announced the news beneath the headline “Sandwich Son Wins Pulitzer Prize.” The article described him as “a Sandwich son” receiving national recognition and noted that he remained in close contact with the community where he had been born and raised.
Hough returned to Sandwich during the weekend following the announcement. He spent Mother’s Day with his mother, Lila, and enjoyed a round of golf with local friends.
The visit produced an especially meaningful hometown photograph: the Pulitzer Prize winner standing beside his mother in the community where his story began.
His father had died several years earlier. Hough expressed regret that Forrest had not lived to share the moment with him.
A Lasting Legacy
Hough continued his newspaper career after receiving the Pulitzer. He died in 1986 at the age of 62.
Following his death, a scholarship fund bearing his name was established at the University of Illinois for students studying communications. It was a fitting memorial to a man whose own education helped carry him from a small Illinois newspaper to the highest levels of American journalism.
Hugh Hough’s career reached far beyond Sandwich, but Sandwich remained part of his story. Before the university honors, the Chicago newsroom and the Pulitzer Prize, there was a local boy reporting high school sports for the hometown paper.
That was where the byline began.
Facts at a Glance
- Full name: Hugh Frederick Hough
- Born: April 15, 1924, in Sandwich, Illinois
- Parents: Forrest and Lila Hough
- Education: Sandwich High School; University of Illinois School of Journalism, 1951
- Military service: United States Army Air Forces during World War II
- Early newspaper work: Sandwich Free Press and Dixon Evening Telegraph
- Major employer: Chicago Sun Times
- Pulitzer Prize: 1974, shared with Art Petacque
- Recognized reporting: New evidence connected to the 1966 murder of Valerie Percy
- Died: 1986, at age 62
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Research & Sources
- Sandwich Free Press, December 28, 1939
- Sandwich Free Press, April 28, 1949
- Sandwich Free Press, May 4, 1950
- Sandwich Free Press, September 28, 1950
- True Republican, February 6, 1951
- Sandwich Free Press, December 4, 1952
- Sandwich Free Press, October 2, 1958
- “Sandwich Son Wins Pulitzer Prize,” Sandwich Free Press, May 15, 1974
- The Pulitzer Prizes, 1974 awards
- University of Illinois journalism and alumni records
- 465th Bombardment Group historical records
- Contemporary obituaries and biographical notices