Wes Sarginson, former anchor and reporter for WSB and WXIA, dies at 82

Credit: Hyosub Shin / AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin / AJC

After the 6 p.m. news, Sarginson would often hit the road with a photographer, report a story, get back to the station and have a segment ready for the 11 p.m. newscast he would also anchor.

“He was that industrial-strength breed of TV news anchor who could out-reporter reporters, outwrite writers and out-storytell storytellers,” said Keith Whitney, a former reporter for 11Alive (WXIA-TV). “He was one of the last of his class. A master class. We won’t see news giants like him again.”

Former colleagues praised Sarginson, known for donning cowboy boots no matter the occasion, for his kind generosity and calm resolve.

“It’s impossible to think of Wes without smiling,” said David Ries, an 11Alive producer from 1994 to 2012. “He taught and led by example. He was part of the team, not above it.”

Credit: WXIA

Credit: WXIA

On Friday nights between the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts, he’d make regular trips to the Krispy Kreme on Ponce de Leon Avenue and bring back enough hot doughnuts for the entire staff.

“Once in a while, I’d drive over with him,” said Al Ashe, an 11Alive photographer from 1976 to 2016. “He’d walk in and there would be this line. He’d lift his fingers up and an employee would nod. They’d have that many dozen doughnuts ready for him by the time he got up to the counter.”

In 2008, Ashe told Sarginson that his daughter had just gotten into St. Pius X, a local private Catholic school. “Without me knowing, Wes made a phone call and had all my daughter’s books paid for,” he said. “That’s the kind of guy he was.”

Born in Illinois, Sarginson grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, and after a stint in the Air Force, graduated from Huntingdon College. He interviewed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. before the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965 while serving as a junior TV reporter in Montgomery.

“I was so stupid,” he said. “I didn’t know what to ask. He began asking questions and answering them. He was genuinely concerned that I was a very young journalist and he wanted to help me. He must have felt sorry for me.”

With his wife, Ann, in tow, Sarginson became the itinerant reporter, working at stations in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Detroit before coming to Atlanta in 1978 at age 35. He wanted to live in the South again, even if it meant a pay cut.

“I have two small children, 7 and 5, and here they can grow up the way I want them to grow up,” he told the AJC in 1978. “That’s more important than money.”

Credit: AJC ARH

Credit: AJC ARH

He co-anchored the 6 p.m. news with local broadcast legend Monica Pearson for six years, and they became close.

“He was one of the hardest working people I know,” Pearson said. “He was a good ol’ boy but smart as a whip. He loved to write. And he was really a people person.”

His son, Todd, called him “the least judgmental person ever. He’d talk to anybody about anything. He was constantly recognized, which was annoying to us. We’d be in a grocery store and have to drag him out because we had something else to do.”

And while Sarginson worked long hours, he loved playing with his kids.

“My mom would call him Peter Pan,” his daughter, Jennifer, said. “He never grew up.”

On weekends, when putting his kids to bed, his entertaining stories would rile them up instead of calming them down. Ann would have to kick him out and do it herself.

“After he finished the 11 o’clock news, he’d come home and wake me up at midnight,” Todd said. “We had a pool table. Even if I had school the next day, we’d play a few games. Then I’d go back to bed and wake up at 6 a.m.”

On some nights, he would even bring his kids along on news stories. Todd’s favorite? Spending all night in Rome on a deer culling hunt.

Sarginson left WSB-TV in 1984 after publicly criticizing management moves.

“I will always feel like I should have some input, and should have some leadership, and should express it,” he told the AJC at the time.

He returned to Washington, D.C., in 1985, this time at ABC affiliate WJLA-TV. A 1987 Washington Post profile of Sarginson described him as a “bit of Columbo,” the popular fictional 1970s TV detective.

“I find that if you shuffle around a little and keep asking questions,” he told the Post at the time, “you’re often surprised at the bright answers a dumb question can fetch.”

In 1988, he moved to WFLA-TV in Tampa, Florida, where he started “Wes Side Stories,” inspirational shorts highlighting a person or organization in need. He said he once helped raise $76,000 for a child to get an organ transplant.

He also did a weekly on-air fishing report, telling the Tampa Bay Times in 1997 that it was a “steal” for the station to allow him to get paid to do something he’d do for free.

But Sarginson missed Atlanta. He landed a morning job at 11Alive in 1997, then moved to evenings with Brenda Wood a year later. He insisted on doing reporting as well.

He covered the 1998 Hall County tornadoes, the Heritage High school shooting and the 2006 Winter Olympics. But he treasured his “Wes Side Stories.”

“Those amazing feature stories made him the standout in the newsroom,” Wood said. “He could recall a seemingly endless number of stories in vivid detail and was a master storyteller.”

He said his kinder, gentler approach to news never felt like a top priority at 11Alive: “I’d have to fight for time every night. I’d go 1 minute 46 seconds and they’ve have me take out 16. I’d fight for those 16 seconds.”

He also loved his dogs. Unbeknownst to 11Alive viewers, he’d bring his beloved, 80-pound Labrador retriever, Muffin, to the studio, and she’d sit quietly at his feet while he did the 11 p.m. news. On weekends, he would happily emcee events for local humane societies as well as veterans groups.

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

After he retiredto Pensacola, Florida, he golfed, played with his three grandkids and sat on his deck reading Tom Clancy novels while listening to the waves.

And he kept consuming copious amounts of ice cream, his favorite form of sustenance.

“My oldest daughter once said, ‘Papa is the only guy who would consider ice cream a breakfast food,’” Jennifer said.

A private funeral is scheduled in Pensacola.

He is survived by his wife, Ann, his children, Todd and Jennifer, and three grandchildren.