Jim Becker, an author and a newsman who covered numerous historic events around the world, but might be most remembered in Hawaii for his article titled “The day the Govs won it all,” died Friday in Hawaii, according to family and friends.
Becker chronicled many watershed events, such as Jackie Robinson’s first major league game in 1947, the hostage-takeover and killings of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics, and his own frenetic odyssey of getting the first picture of the Dalai Lama in Calcutta in 1959.
He also reported on the Bay of Pigs and was a war correspondent who was sent to Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the early 1960s among the many news-making stories he recounted in his book, “Saints, Sinners &Shortstops.”
“It’s sort of the Forrest Gump of that generation of reporters. You happened to be alongside history-making situations, like Jackie Robinson. It’s one thing to be around all these events, it’s another thing to impact them,” said Peter Brooks, Becker’s godson who is from Connecticut but flew to be at Becker’s bedside in his final days.
“I was at the deathbed. He called me on Sunday and said, ‘Time is near, the end is near’ in the next two weeks. I arrived Monday night. He was having one of those bounce-backs in folks before they pass, they have a nice rebound. It was lovely. We had a great conversation, talking about the Super Bowl … World Cup coming to America in 2026 and how he and I would go to it. It was a good night, but he did know the time was near.”
What Becker will be most remembered for in Hawaii was his story on Farrington beating Kamehameha 16-6 in 1965 to win its first football title since 1944. The article, under the headline “The day the Govs won it all …” was put on the front page of the Star-Bulletin.
Becker would say the editors ripped out all the news and put this story on the front page. The lead story of that day was “Two flee State Prison under a hail of bullets.” But Becker’s story would take up the entire middle of the front page.
Becker, who was a columnist for the Star-Bulletin at the time, was embraced by the Kalihi community after that. That winning football team would hold anniversaries, reunions and gatherings and Becker would always be invited.
“He always said that was the most important story he ever wrote,” said Carla Escoda Brooks, Becker’s goddaughter in a telephone interview from Connecticut on Friday.
“And you think of all the things he covered in his life — wars, Jackie Robinson and all of that. He said that piece was the most important one he ever wrote … because he thought it touched a lot of people and it made people realize there’s a broader thing to be celebrated in certain parts of Hawaii that maybe are less celebrated.”
“He put Farrington on the map, not only the football team, but the entire school within the community because of that story he wrote, it had such a great impact,” said Tom Gushiken, who was a halfback on the 1965 Farrington team. “Still today, I run into people and they bring that up. Whenever we had something (reunions, anniversary-type gatherings), we all wanted him to be part of us. He was always there for us.
“He was such a nice guy, very approachable. Could tell, he would listen intensely what we had to say. He was well liked by the whole team. Whenever we celebrated something, we always included him on everything we did. We always said, you’re part of us.”
In his book, the long-since-retired foreign correspondent had a chapter on the life-altering event of Farrington’s victory at Honolulu Stadium titled, “The Day of the Governors.”
Born during the depression in 1926, he grew up in Los Angeles and saw Robinson in college at UCLA. Later as a writer for Associated Press he covered Robinson’s first game in which the star athlete broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
“I was 20 on Jackie’s first day,” Becker said.
He also covered the tragedy of the 1972 Olympics.
What he remembered most was that editors back in the U.S. made him rewrite the story of the killings because TV had just announced that all the hostages were safe.
He said he could hear gun shots and he knew what gunfire sounded like.
Later, the TV accounts were wrong and all the hostages were “gone.”
In the 1950s, Becker was an AP bureau chief in the Philippines, where he worked with the father of Escoda Brooks.
After his stint in Hawaii, he moved to London in the 1980s. Becker and his wife would satisfy their appetite for the arts — attending operas, ballets and theater productions almost daily.
Becker and his late wife (Betty’s ashes were scattered in Waikiki after she died in 2008) loved living in Hawaii, eventually settling back in Honolulu in the 1990s.
Becker was in and out of the hospital in his last months. He was hit by a vehicle in 2014, Later, he would lose much of his eyesight, but not his sharp memory for detail and storytelling.
He remained steadfast till the end, a friend said. He even wanted to know about the political happenings, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to become U.S. health secretary.
Services are pending.
