It's Not What You Know But Who You Know

 They say the reason to go to Harvard or Yale is to develop a fancy address book.  Maybe, but perhaps it works also at the University of Illinois.  This from the New York Times death notice of Hal Bruno, late Director of Election Coverage for ABC:

He graduated from the University of Illinois, where he was a sportswriter for The Daily Illini, an experience he recalled in a 2008 speech as he was inducted into the Society of Professional Journalists Hall of Fame.

“My classmates on the Illini sports staff included Hugh Hough and Bud Karmin, who went on to win Pulitzer Prizes,” he said, “and Robert Novak, who proudly became famous as ‘the Prince of Darkness.’ Our sports editor was Gene Shalit, and we had occasional cartoons by Shel Silverstein — my wild and multitalented fraternity brother — who also drew for the campus humor magazine. It was called Shaft, and the editor was Hugh Hefner, an ex-G.I. from Chicago.”

Link (But hey, Buce, that headline is a lazy cheap shot.  Bruno may have had connections; he may or may not have used them.  But the real bottom line is that he was an immensely well-informed journalist who built up his knowledge base by his own hard work.).