The Aspiring Journalist
Born to be a newspaper man, Ebert’s first byline appeared in his self-published Washington Street News which he delivered to several of his Washington Street neighbors while in grade school. In high school he worked for both Urbana High School’s The Echo and the News-Gazette covering sports and local news. On Friday nights he would stay in the New-Gazette office all night typing up high school scores pausing only to cross the street to Vriner’s for dinner with co-workers 2-3 times his age. “We’d talk newspapers,” Ebert recalled, “It was all new to me and seemed so exotic. I feel like I got my best education at Vriner’s.”
Ebert continued his education at the University of Illinois and received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Journalism (1964). While enrolled he spent “more time working on the Daily Illini” than studying. Starting out as a weekly columnist, he progressed to news editor, and eventually editor-in-chief in his senior year. According to Ebert, as an editor he was “tactless, egotistical, merciless, and a showboat;” flaws he balanced by writing well, having a good sense for page layout, and scouting new talent. While completing his undergraduate degree, Roger served as president of the U.S. Student Press Association and was a member of Phi Delta Theta. In 1966, Ebert left Urbana to become a features writer for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Ebert published more than 20 books and dozens of collected reviews during his lifetime. His first book, however, was a history of the University of Illinois. Ebert’s senior year coincided with the university’s centennial and as editor of the Daily Illini he pitched lllini Century: One Hundred Years of Campus Life to the University of Illinois Press. The book was an informal anthology of campus life culled from back issues of the Daily Illini.
