Hometown stars - Sam Donaldson

November 4, 1997

Donaldson shows city candid persona Ramon Renteria El Paso Times Sam Donaldson didn't need to shout "Primetime Live!" to grab anybody's attention. The real character behind the mask of the abrasive ABC newsman simply leaked out. There he was on live television, not in Washington, D.C., or New York City but in his hometown of El Paso. Donaldson unplugged, you might say. He was on Channel 7-KVIA's late night News Xtra program, talking candid, really candid. If you missed the show, you'll have to ask anchors John Purvis and Stephanie Townsend Allala what he said about the virtues of attending New Mexico Military Institute. Well, it's safe to say that Donaldson learned a lot of discipline as a military school cadet but he blames the institute for not teaching him to walk as "liquid" as co-anchor Diane Sawyer. The Sam on News Xtra hardly seemed like the same guy arguing every Sunday morning with George Will on the ABC public affairs program "This Week" or the same guy who makes politicians sweat with his incisive questions. This was Donaldson, the homeboy who grew up on the family farm near Anthony, N.M., the deejay who once played records on the radio from a tiny room at the El Paso stockyards. This was Donaldson, whose neighbors in Hondo, N.M., described him as more down-to-earth than anyone could imagine, Mr. Nice Guy taking time to bake a birthday cake for his wife, Jan. It was a candid glimpse of Donaldson, a celebrity willing to confess that individual initiative and other values associated with growing up in the Southwest strongly influenced his success. Here was Donaldson telling a caller he knows exactly where to find lethargic but quaint places like Chamberino, San Miguel and Canutillo. "I once said that if I had a nom de plume writing a book, it would be Anthony Chamberino," he said. Donaldson came home to address the Texas Association of Broadcasters and revealed a little of his true self. Donaldson's most influential mentors: Virgil Hicks, a journalism professor at Texas Western College and Howard K. Smith, a CBS correspondent and later an ABC anchor. On covering Washington: "It's our obligation to tell you what's going on over there. Because the more you turn over rocks, the more that lizards scramble from under them." Is George Will a dork? "George is a conservative but he's not a knee-jerk conservative." Donaldson, a sheep rancher, is just as comfortable driving into town for snacks or jousting verbally with ranching neighbor Ted Turner who wants to introduce sheep-eating timber wolves into the area. "He served me bison meat," Donaldson said. "Very tasty." Here on live TV in El Paso was Donaldson, who can escape to the country once in a while but cannot escape the thrill of the kill, the thrill of being a top-notch journalist and one of the most recognized faces in the United States. "I try to be equally vicious to all the politicians," he said.