The 45 words of the First Amendment were his greatest love, but defending their purpose was Louis E. Ingelhart's greatest passion.
Ingelhart arrived at Ball State University in hope of fostering support for the outspoken at the edge of an era when Sen. Joseph McCarthy was championing the hunt for "communists" and battling the likes of Edward R. Murrow. The United States was shaken to its core by fear. Silence enveloped the nation.
Ingelhart, meanwhile, focused on building an academic environment where the only fear was that of not speaking loudly enough.
Over several decades, he took an area of study on this campus that had only one course and transformed it into a nationally recognized department.
Though his efforts might have gone unnoticed by many students outside of journalism, Ingelhart fought for more than student journalists. His work benefited artists, protestors, poets and more. He respected students not only for their work, but the thoughts that went into each image, each demonstration, each poem.
His work was the stuff of legend. He was honored by every imaginable society or group that believed in the importance of free speech.
But his importance reaches beyond the awards and the glory heaped upon him by free speech advocates.
Ingelhart's passion for the First Amendment was for the sake of the students, not the amendment. He cared not only about their words, but their hearts and well-being. Some former students remembered him as a fatherly figure who gave them not just his knowledge, but his love of life as well. Others recalled how he would pay the tuition of students who couldn't afford to continue paying it themselves. It was an investment in the students who would aspire to be his peers, a debt to be paid forward.
In the years after he retired, he remained the foremost authority on press freedom, an open source of invaluable information to all who requested his assistance.
Twelve days before his 87th birthday, Ingelhart died of pneumonia Sunday at Ball Memorial Hospital.
Today, the Daily News honors a friend and celebrates a legacy.
Louis E. Ingelhart, a champion of the First Amendment and the founder of Ball State University's Department of Journalism, died Sunday leaving thousands remembering passion for education and student freedom.
"Lou was dedicated to student journalism and to the Ball State journalism department in a manner that you rarely see individuals that dedicated," Gene Policinski, executive director of the First Amendment Center and one of Ingelhart's former students, said.
Ingelhart, 86, died of pneumonia about 7 p.m. at Ball Memorial Hospital with his son, James Ingelhart, and daughter, Sharon White, by his side.
Louis Ingelhart's health began to deteriorate in November when he was living by himself and fell, James Ingelhart said. While recovering in the Westminister nursing home, Louis Ingelhart caught pneumonia and began to have trouble breathing. He went to the hospital Dec. 30 and doctors put him on a ventilator, but eventually antibiotics stopped working.
James Ingelhart and White decided to take him off his ventilator Sunday.
"It was his time and it was for the best," James Ingelhart said. "He lived a long, good life."
Ingelhart was born in Minco, Okla., on Jan. 19, 1920. He was homeschooled for kindergarten and first grade by his mother, who was a former school teacher, while his father worked the railroads.
"When I was in home school I got interested in reading, and I would play letter games by cutting out the letters from cereal boxes and spelling out words," Louis Ingelhart said in an earlier interview with Daily News staff.
Louis Ingelhart became involved with journalism at a young age. He was the editor of his classroom newspaper, which was entirely handwritten, in the fourth grade. In junior high, he wrote articles for the high school newspaper, and when he was in high school he became the editor.
After high school Louis Ingelhart attended Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colo., and Colorado Northern University. He joined the Air Force during World War II and became editor of the "Kee Kee Krier" newspaper while stationed in Goose Bay, Labrador. That's when he began to understand the First Amendment. He would have to be selective with stories that ran in the Air Force paper to ensure safety of the base, he said in previous interviews. Louis Ingelhart arrived at Ball State in 1953 as an English teacher. In 1968 Louis Ingelhart was hired as a journalism professor in the Center for Journalism and eventually went on to become the chairman of the Department of Journalism in 1973.
"If someone needed something he was there to help them," Marilyn Weaver, chairwoman of the Department of Journalism, said. "He was more than a teacher, more than an administrator."
Louis Ingelhart often went beyond the typical duties. Like the time he went to help students whose car broke down while they were traveling to a conference at Ohio University, David Knott, associate professor emeritus and former Daily News adviser, said.
"Anything that his students needed was never too much for him," he said.
His personality helped Louis Ingelhart spread his passion for freedom of speech and journalism throughout the nation. He was one of the founding members of the Student Press Law Center, which was created in 1974 to serve as advocate for student press rights.
"He'd get upset when school newspapers would be censored and he'd get on the phone and advise them," Fred Woodress, journalism faculty emeritus who has known Louis Ingelhart for 22 years, said.
As an outspoken leader in the journalism field, Louis Ingelhart was able to become one of the top professionals in the field, James Ingelhart said.
"He believed that your works throughout life is what builds the picture of you," he said.
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