When enrolling in college, some students choose their majors early on, while others find a direction later in their journey. Sometimes, Fort Hays State University faculty help direct those paths and remind students of their potential. Jack Heather, who joined FHSU as a faculty member in 1950, impacted Tad Felts’ life and many generations to follow.
Felts started at FHSU in 1951, and even though he worked at a Garden City radio station in high school, he had not considered a career in broadcasting. His interest developed after taking Heather’s courses. Felts enjoyed Heather’s broadcasting courses so much that he enrolled in all that were offered. The knowledge and mentorship he received from Heather set the foundation for Felts’ 70-year broadcasting career.
Felts became a familiar voice on radio stations across Kansas before returning to his hometown of Phillipsburg in 1972. There, he served as an announcer as well as a news and sports director. Felts’ The Tadpole, an interactive question-and-answer opinion program, became his most famous radio segment that evolved into an interview series with guest features. His programs received several awards, including multiple wins as Kansas Sports Broadcaster of the Year. He is also a member of the Kansas Association of Broadcasters (KAB) and the Kansas State High School Activities Association Hall of Fame.
Just like the professor who changed his life, Felts passed his knowledge along to two Fort Hays State alums, Lance Lippert and Gerard Wellbrock, who also have found success in communications. Lippert is a professor at Illinois State University and teaches organizational communication, leadership communication, and more. Wellbrock serves as the Voice of the FHSU Tigers, as sports director at Eagle Radio, and studied under Heather and Felts’ mentorship.
“I feel extremely fortunate to have had Jack Heather as an instructor for my first two years at FHSU. Couple that with Tad as a mentor, and I feel that, in some small way, I can carry on the tradition that Jack started at FHSU. Tad is a huge part of that tradition with his Hall of Fame career.” .
Gerard Wellbrock
He added, “My first job out of college was in Phillipsburg, where I was fortunate to work with Tad for two years before moving back to Hays. I can’t think of a better person to learn broadcasting from than Tad. His knowledge of the industry and willingness to help me develop as a young broadcaster has profoundly impacted my life.”
Heather inspired many students over his 38 years at FHSU. Heather began his announcing career with the Armed Forces in 1945 and entered the University of Texas in El Paso to study broadcasting and business. He later completed his graduate studies at the University of Denver.
Hired under Dr. Cunningham, Heather developed the radio curriculum and training programs for Fort Hays State. The program began in the Speech Department with a primary focus on radio. When Heather accepted the responsibility to expand the radio curriculum offerings at FHSU, he started with bare necessities, including a homemade control board, two turntables, a record disc cutter, a remote pickup amplifier, and a Brush tape recorder that utilized paper-backed tapes. He also grew the radio courses beyond the initial two courses. In 1956, with the rising popularity of television, the program curriculum was revised to include that medium, also. The first college television broadcast aired in 1956 over KCKT-TV in Great Bend, and later, in 1962, the campus radio station, KFHS, went on air.
Though it no longer stands, the Radio Television building, Heather Hall, built in 1981, was named after Jack Heather and housed the Department of Informatics and the KFHS radio and television newsroom. Over the decades, students created radio content and television broadcasts before the building’s demolition in 2014. Fort Hays State continues to offer cutting-edge broadcasting programs in the Department of Informatics.
Heather passed away in 2011. In the summer of 2010, the original Agnew Hall was razed because of its deteriorating conditions and the shrinking demand for 1950s-style housing. In its place, two new residence halls were built. Agnew and Heather Hall were opened in 2012 and 2013, respectively, to provide a unique community space for both freshmen and upperclassmen. Members of Heather’s family were honored at the dedication of the new Heather Hall in 2013 by FHSU President Edward H. Hammond. Heather Hall will house generations of students following their dreams by studying at FHSU.
Felts’ story personifies how the impact of one faculty member can ripple across generations of lives to come. Share your story about an FHSU faculty or staff member who has impacted your life by visiting https://foundation.fhsu.edu/share-your-story to share your story online.