TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
Dionicio “Don” Flores has contributed to the profession of journalism as a reporter, editor, publisher, newspaper executive and Texas State University System Trustee.
Flores has now been elected vice chairman of the Texas State University System Board of Regents, the board that oversees seven-member universities including the 40,000-student Texas State University in San Marcos.
Flores was selected by a unanimous vote Nov. 21 during the board’s quarterly meeting at San Houston State University in Huntsville. The system is made up of seven institutions serving more than 102,000 students from West Texas to the Gulf Coast.
Flores, an El Paso resident, is most proud of being a first-generation college graduate. Flores graduated from Southwest Texas State University, now Texas State University, with a degree in journalism in 1973.
“I was born in Goliad, a tenth-generation Texan. My parents were both grammar school dropouts,” Flores says. “My dad worked on a ranch, and my mom worked in the kitchen on the same ranch preparing food for the cowboys.”
The family moved to Refugio, Texas, not far from the Gulf Coast, when he was no more than six years old so his father could do something different other than riding horses and occasionally getting thrown.
He worked for an oil company essentially digging ditches and doing field work in the oil fields while his “mom stayed home” Starting school was not easy for Flores.
“I started school speaking Spanish. My firstgrade teacher Ms. Ida Cantu took a liking to me my first day and made a determination to speak to my parents,” Flores says.
“She told them that ‘if he’s going to be a success he needs to learn English.’ So, my dad laid down the law that from now on you speak English at home or you don’t speak at all, and we will try to speak English to you. It was an interesting start in school.”
DIONICIO“DON” FLORES
Flores and his siblings learned English and thrived in school.
“Being a first-generation college graduate stands out. My family has spent 10 generations in Texas, and no one had attended much less graduated from college,” Flores says.
“I think that’s a pretty good accomplishment for a mother and father that said their children were going to get as much education as we could get,” he says.
“Unfortunately, my dad passed away the summer between my junior and senior year in high school, so he was unable to see what we did, but my mom kept us together.”
Flores started in journalism early, editing both his junior high and high school newspapers and taking journalism electives. He started at Southwest Texas State University in 1969 as a journalism major.
At Southwest Texas, Flores eventually become editor of student newspaper, the University Star, and worked as a paid reporter and sports editor for the local San Marcos newspaper, The San Marcos Daily Record.
Flores would be mentored by Gordon McCullough, the faculty adviser for the University Star, and Pat Murdoch, the university’s Public Information Officer.
Murdoch acted as a big sister to Flores, making the transition from high school to college easier. Flores credits McCullough and Murdoch with helping him develop into a successful journalist.
“Gordon McCullough is one of the people responsible for who I am and what I am doing now,” Flores says.
“He told me one thing I should do in a class assignment is read the story, and he said, ‘Don, do you know how to write?’ I said that I thought I did.
He responded: ‘you need to write in a storytelling format. You write fact after fact, and there’s no transition, there’s no storytelling.’ He said, ‘it runs like an out of tune car,’ so he would humble me and say look that’s good, but it could be better.”
Flores learned from McCullough not to get to far ahead of himself. Journalism is about doing your job, it’s not about awards and recognition. He still sees McCullough at ballgames and other functions.
“The journalism degree I got was not just a piece of paper. It has a different dimension,” Flores says.
“The difference is that our educators, then and now, are people that will be your friends for life. If you recognize that’s who they are and what they can be for you.”
McCullough thought highly of Flores.
“Don was in the first class I taught, this young man from Refugio, Texas, and was a very good student,” McCullough says. “He had a personality that would open doors for him. He was a bright young guy that would always come back with the story. I had him covering school board and city council meetings.”
Upon graduating, Flores started working at the Abilene Reporter News in Abilene, Texas, as a reporter. Flores’ career would take him to a variety of newspapers all over the country.
Flores spent most of his career with the Gannett Co., Inc. Some of his titles included reporter, assistant editor, editor, assistant to the president of Gannett West, president, and publisher.
“If you like people and storytelling, you are going to be good at your job,” Flores says. “If you don’t like people or think you are better than them, you are going to be horrible. You can’t even be a good analyst because you can’t analyze something you can’t relate to, appreciate people and what they do” Flores’ last title was executive vice president and editor for the El Paso Times before his retirement in August 2008. The El Paso Times was part of the Gannett Media News Group, the country’s largest newspaper chain at that time.
“Gannett CEO Al Neuhart taught me to make stories better by telling the story through the eyes of the people most affected by it, not a spokesman, piece of paper, or graphic,” Flores says.
“If you can’t tell the story through the eyes of someone touched by inflation or whatever, then why report on it.”
Early in his career while in Abilene, Flores covered a Colorado prison escape and other interesting stories including accidental shootings. While he worked for the El Paso Times, the newspaper hosted the 1998 Governor’s Debate between then Gov. George W. Bush, the future 43rd President of the United States, and Texas Land Commissioner Gary Mauro, the Democrat nominee for governor.
“W (Bush) is a wonderful person. He is the person you see, he loves to joke around, and I got to know him when he was the managing partner of the Texas Rangers,” Flores says.
“He came to El Paso and was visiting with a friend of mine the owner of the local minor league team. I found him to be a very nice sincere person. We really hit it off and stayed in touch and hosted the only Texas debate when he ran for reelection.”
Bush appointed Flores to the Texas State University Board of Regents in 1999. Flores served through 2008. During his first term, Flores was instrumental in helping change the name from Southwest Texas State University to Texas State University.
He also assisted the School of Journalism and Mass Communication with its 2003 accreditation. Texas State is accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Bruce Smith, the past chair of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication says, “I know Don in two respects, as a member of the Board of Regents and a member of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Don was very interested in our program becoming accredited.
“He was very supportive in terms of getting the university to give us resources so we could make the accreditation standards.”
In 2019, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Flores to another term on the Texas State University System Board of Regents.
