MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Woodrow “Woody” Baird, a dogged, straight-talking and expert journalist who lined every little thing from Elvis Presley to panda bears for The Associated Press within the Memphis area for 27 years, has died. He was 77.

Baird had suffered a stroke every week earlier than he died April 11 in Memphis, stated Mary Baird, his spouse.

Baird labored for the AP in Memphis from 1982 to 2009, when he retired. He was a prolific author who lined each kind of reports, from the felony trial of former state Sen. John Ford to the annual migration of followers to Graceland for Elvis’ loss of life anniversary.

Baird additionally lined Memphis-based delivery large FedEx Corp., Mother Teresa’s go to to Memphis, the arrival on the Memphis Zoo of two panda bears from China, a baby custody battle that modified Tennessee legislation on the rights of oldsters, the Shannon Street shootout through which an officer and 7 alleged cult members had been killed, and former mayors Willie Herenton and A C Wharton Jr.

Wharton answered questions from Baird when Wharton labored as a lawyer in federal courtroom. Wharton additionally lived close to Baird and known as him a pal. He known as Baird the epitome of a “tough, hard-nosed” reporter.

“When it came to his reporting duties, he was just like Jack Webb on ‘Dragnet’- just the facts, just the facts, man,” Wharton advised The Associated Press in a cellphone interview Wednesday. “He just wanted the truth. … We might have a beer later, but give me the news right now.”

Colleagues thought of Baird powerful and unafraid, a reporter who didn't hesitate to ask direct inquiries to get to the guts of the story. They recall his capability to supply good copy beneath the stress of reporting essential information.

“I can describe taking dictation on a breaking news story from Woody,” retired AP journalist Paul Randall Dickerson stated. “He always dictated a lead (paragraph) that would arrest the reader’s attention and follow it with great detail that one would think came from an hour’s self-editing, but in reality, simply flowed from Woody into a publishable story.”

At his retirement social gathering in 2009, Baird’s AP colleagues introduced him with an audio tribute with every staffer imitating his barking signature line together with his loud voice when he known as the AP bureau from the scene of breaking information: “This is Woody! Give me the desk!”

“When you would be chatting with him and tell him something funny or odd, his reply was almost always, ‘Well, there you go,’” Dickerson stated.

Baird joined the AP in New Orleans in 1977 after working as a reporter and managing editor of The Daily Iberian in New Iberia, Louisiana. He left AP to turn out to be the paper’s editor in 1981 however returned the next yr as a newsman in Memphis.

Baird is survived by Mary Baird, a daughter from a earlier marriage and 4 grandchildren.

Former AP information editor Teresa Wasson recollects how Baird shaved his head lengthy earlier than it grew to become commonplace. He normally wore the identical factor to work - denims, a black shirt, a vest and a hat.

“Woody was a real stickler for accuracy, and he took to heart the AP admonition to be first, but first be right,” Wasson stated. “I always felt confident when Woody was working a hot story on deadline that his reporting was factual and fair.”

Former AP reporter and writer Lucas L. Johnson II known as Baird “an old school, dogged reporter, a true AP newsman.” Johnson recollects assembly Baird not lengthy after Johnson began on the AP, and he was a little bit intimidated as a result of “Woody didn’t bite his tongue.”

“But I came to appreciate that about him because I knew when he gave me a compliment about a story I wrote, he meant it,” Johnson stated. “I learned a lot from him, and I became a better journalist as a result.”

Baird was born in Summerville, South Carolina, and grew up close by in Monck’s Corner, Mary Baird stated. He served within the Air Force as a medic and later graduated from the University of South Carolina.

Mary Baird stated her husband “worked hard and loved what he did.”

“He said just what he thought. He was a good man,” she stated. “He could be really soft, but he would correct you if you were wrong.”

After the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020, Baird took up gardening in his yard. She stated they spent the Saturday earlier than he suffered the stroke visiting nurseries and spending the time out, a rarity for them after the pandemic struck.

“He absolutely loved it,” Mary Baird stated of his gardening, including that later in life he was “getting downright warm and fuzzy.”

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