40 Years. Eight Months. 20 Days. That’s how long Senior Reporter Jack Rinehart will have worked at WRTV when he retires Friday.
Jack was born in South Bend, Indiana and grew up in South Bend, and Streator then Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Bradley University in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in Speech. And while still in college, Jack started working as a reporter at WRAU-TV (now known as WHOI) in Peoria, Illinois. He later became an Investigative Reporter and Weekend Anchor at WRAU before coming to WRTV on November 10, 1975.
Above: Jack Rinehart in the early years of his reporting career.
During his four decades in Indianapolis, Jack has broken thousands of stories, covered hundreds of exclusives and established himself as one of the most trusted reporters in the market. His career highlights include an Emmy Award, Associated Press Awards, a CASPER Award, and the state’s most prestigious award, the “Sagamore of the Wabash,” given to him by former Indiana Governor, Robert Orr.
Always the journalist, Jack has faithfully written down the details of every story he’s covered… creating a pile of reporter notebooks, and a stock-pile of reporter memories. If you ask, Jack will tell you there are many stories he is proud of, but one of his proudest moments is breaking the Mike Tyson rape story in 1991.
Jack enjoys many things that will keep him busy in retirement, including biking along the Monon Trail, reading World War II era military history books, watching high school sports and baking gourmet pies.
July 29 will be Jack's last day before retirement. That day is also officially recognized as Jack Rinehart Day in the city of Lawrence, recognizing his steadfast reporting on that community.
You can watch a documentary from 1979 of a behind the scenes look at how the news was made at RTV6 that included Jack in the video player above.
Below, watch Jack talk about possibly the most famous story he ever broke -- the Mike Tyson sexual assault case:
