Bill will hate this, but:

Posted by on Friday, November 18, 2011 in December 2011/January 2012, Editor's Column.

There was a story in the June 1986 issue of House Organ, headlined, “Hance to direct news office.”

It noted that Bill Hance, city editor at the Nashville Banner, was coming to Vanderbilt be director of News and Public Affairs.

This December, more than 25 years later, Bill is retiring.

When it was announced that Bill was coming over here, I got a call from veteran reporter Larry Brinton, who had worked with Bill at the Banner, and who at that time was working for WTVF Channel 5.

“Bill is a good guy, and you’ll like working for him,” Larry said.

He added: “He’ll blow up and yell about something, and then five minutes later it’s like nothing has happened.”

I have been at Vanderbilt for 30 years, Bill has been my boss for most of that time, and I will vouch for the scouting report I got from Larry 25 years ago. Bill has hired good people, let them do their jobs, challenged us, tried to keep us out of trouble, and runs what are surely the most entertaining staff meetings at Vanderbilt.

I hope he continues to enjoy life, laugh a lot, and sing along to Hank Williams songs.

And if he’s reading this, you cannot believe how red his face is right now.