Embodying the Profession: John C. Hammerback—Scholar, Teacher, Mentor, Friend

There are few individuals in the field of communication who were respected and admired as much as John Hammerback was during his lifetime. John was a quiet, likable individual with a deep respect for his profession, colleagues, students, and friends. He was a talented professor, scholar, editor, university administrator, and active professional. He cared deeply about the quality of research in his discipline, especially the quality of thought and writing. He did not call attention to himself or his work but let his achievements speak for themselves. Thus, John had a tremendous effect on the professional and personal lives of many individuals.

My earliest memories of John date to the 1970s. I first became aware of John Hammerback when he presented a paper at a Western States Communication Association convention. I do not remember the year but I do remember that the organizer of the Public Address panels had assembled a document containing a summary of all the papers presented in the division. The authors had been asked if they were going to publish their papers. All the authors but John stated that they planned to do so. John indicated that he was not sure what his plans were for the paper. I thought that the statement was odd at the time, but it made perfect sense once I got to know John.

John had extremely high standards. He was unwilling to submit a paper for publication unless it met those standards, particularly with regard to the quality of writing. I have often wondered if somewhere he had a desk drawer that contained all the papers that he did not believe were ready for publication. I also suspect that there were papers worthy of publication that he never submitted for the same reason.

My formal introduction to John occurred in the spring of 1976 at the annual Conference on Rhetorical Criticism at California State University, Hayward (now California State University, East Bay). At that time I was a visiting professor at Humboldt State University but had accepted a tenure-track position at the University of New Mexico (UNM) for the following academic year. During the conference, John approached me and said that he had heard that I was moving to New Mexico. He then asked if I was interested in studying Chicano rhetoric. I admitted that I was not. He responded by saying that New Mexico was a natural place to study Chicano rhetoric, especially the discourse produced by Reies Lopez Tijerina and Tijerina’s organization, the Alianza. He also said that he hoped to travel to Albuquerque to do research on Tijerina in the UNM archives at some future time. He had previously done research in the farm worker papers in the archives at Fresno State University (now California State University, Fresno).

I did not know at that time that John and I were both graduates of Indiana University and had studied under many of the same professors. John had graduated several years before I did. I later discovered that two of my classmates at Indiana were John’s students from California State University, Hayward.

When I arrived at UNM, I was assigned to teach a class in Southwest Rhetoric. The class had never been taught, so I had to create it. It quickly became clear that the course should contain a major unit on Chicano rhetoric. I began to research the subject and became very interested. I contacted John and expressed my interest in working on the topic.

During my first year at UNM, John traveled to Albuquerque, stayed at our home, and gave a guest lecture in one of my classes. My students were very excited about his presentation. During that visit John and I agreed to work together on research and publication. We formed an academic partnership and a friendship that lasted for more than 30 years. That partnership led to the publication of 4 books, 12 presentations at conferences, 10 articles in journals, and 13 book chapters. I do not believe that either of us would have been as prolific if we had worked on...