The O’Collegian

The man who led the Daily O’Collegian since 1982 said he has a new direction in life.

Jack Lancaster retired from his position at OSU at the end of the fall semester. Lancaster not only taught editing and magazine writing at the university but also was the O’Collegian adviser.

Lancaster studied education at Northwestern State University. He came to OSU to get his masters in journalism. He chose to finish his education at OSU because it allowed him to combine his passion for education as well as newspapers, Lancaster said.

Lancaster chose to go into journalism because he loved the business.

“I just got ink in my veins,” he said.

He said he felt as if he never had to work because being a journalist was so much fun.

He loved working with students at the O’Colly and many attribute their success to him.

“He took me — an unhappy engineering student struggling to get through Calculus 2 — and helped mold me into someone with six great journalism offers when I graduated,” said Jason Collington, Web editor for the Tulsa World.

Collington was an editor for the O’Colly during spring and fall semesters of 1998.

To many of his students, Lancaster was more than an adviser; he was also a friend.

“I love that Jack didn’t just advise us,” Collington said. “He was a counselor and a friend who helped everyone.”

Lancaster inspired his students through encouragement and constructive criticism.

“It’s funny to say but I looked forward to his criticism every day,” Collington said.

Every day, Lancaster would meet with the staff and give his critique of the paper.

Collington said everyone on staff knew his critique as “red copy” because of the red pen he used.

“He was awesome,” said Barbara Allen, satellite adviser for the Tulsa World.

Lancaster advised Allen from 1994 until 1998. Allen said she feels one of the reasons he was a good adviser was that he let students reason out their own issues instead of just telling them what to do.

“There are probably a hundred working journalists who would credit their drive and ambition to Lancaster,” Allen said.

The success of Lancaster’s journalism career is shown not only through the success of his students, but also in the various awards he has received.

Lancaster said he has won the National Adviser Award four times and was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. However, he is most proud of the awards he helped the O’Collegian staff win.

The O’Colly won the All American Award in 1990 and each year for 15 years straight, Lancaster said. The O’Colly staff was also inducted into the Associate Collegiate Press — the only newspaper in Oklahoma to be awarded this honor.

Though there were good times throughout his career at OSU, there were also tough times, such as the 2001 OSU plane crash and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Lancaster said.

During these times of sadness, Lancaster spent time with his students to help them cope with their grief.

Apart from teaching and advising, Lancaster has also worked with newspapers and magazines. He was the managing editor for the Elk City Daily News, wrote freelance for several magazines and was a correspondent for the Associated Press.

He has also written a book titled, “Weekend with President Jimmy Carter.”

Lancaster refers to being a journalist as “having a front seat on life.” He said he feels that he was able to learn more about life as a journalist than he would have in any other occupation because he was able to meet and interact with so many different people.

Now that he is retired, Lancaster plans to write even more.

“I am 57 and I still got a lot of tread left on the tires,” Lancaster said.