Indiana Broadcast History Archive

Ginny Hingst, formerly Ginny Caldwell, is one of Indiana broadcaster Howard Caldwell’s daughters who was inspired by his love for sports, history, reading and writing.

Hingst grew up with two sisters, one older and one younger. She was the tomboy of the siblings, cheering on the Cincinnati Reds, Butler Bulldogs and Indianapolis Indians from a young age.

“I gravitated towards my dad’s love of basketball and baseball,” she said.

But instead of playing basketball, Hingst was a swimmer in her youth.

Hingst’s mother stayed at home with the kids until the youngest sister went into first grade and then worked in the local schools to help support the family. Starting out, Hingst’s father did not make a lot of money in his broadcasting career. 

“He worked a lot of hours,” she said. “So mom, throughout the week, was kind of like a single mom. But we made it. We had a lot of fun.”

When Hingst and her sisters are together, there’s lots of laughter, she said. The family has a lot of good memories as a family, such as watching their favorite TV show or attending a ballgame.

Caldwell was the biggest influence on her life, Hingst said, but she also looked up to her Aunt Virginia, who she’s named after.

After moving to a bigger house, Hingst said her parents struggled to afford it. But her Aunt Virginia, he dad’s sister, who the family took care of as she died of lung cancer, gifted Hingst’s parents $5,000.

“We had more neighbors, we had kids in the neighborhood,” she said. “That was kind of life changing.”

When Hingst came home from swim practice, Caldwell would wait for her with his tennis racquet to play at the tennis court the new house had in the backyard. While he was a busy man, he found time for his family.

“Those times are real special as I look back,” Hingst said.

Caldwell and his middle daughter had similar skill sets. Hingest said she always knew she wanted to pursue journalism like her father. In school, she worked on the newspaper staff. When looking at colleges, she decided to attend Indiana University for its journalism school and graduated with an undergraduate degree in the field.

“There was never any doubt in my mind what I wanted to do,” she said.

In the summer before her senior year at IU, Hingst got an internship at the Kokomo Tribune, rotating around all the different departments. After graduation, Hingst combined her love for sports and writing and got a job as a sports writer at the Kokomo Tribune. She wanted to be a print journalist, rather than a broadcaster like Caldwell.

“It never occurred to me to go that route,” she said. “And he [Caldwell] was always supportive.”

One of her favorite interviews was with a young woman who was a great athlete and also Deaf. Some of her favorite stories were human interest articles about baseball and swimming.

But Hingst did face struggles as one of the only women in the sports journalism field at the time. Her worst experience was at IU.

She went to cover an IU men’s football game in 1983 where the coach at the time, Sam Wyche, decided to do the press conference in the back of the men’s locker room. Hingst said she tried to walk in, eyes on the floor, but was stopped and told she could not enter.

“I said, ‘I promise I will keep my eyes on the floor. But I have a story to write just like all these other guys’” she said. “They wouldn’t let me go in. It was a big hubbub. It was embarrassing.”

Some journalists who were allowed into the press conference brough Hingst their notes. But her story, which her editor expected roughly an hour after the game, was late as a result. The editor wanted Hingst to go back and report at the next game, to see if IU would continue their locker-room press conferences. The editor also asked Hingst to write a column about her experience.

At the next home game, the press conference was in the middle of the football field. One reporter asked why, and Wyche looked at Hingst and replied “I’ll tell you later,” she said. Hingst said she did not like being the center of attention and just wanted to do her job.

After working at the Kokomo Tribune for three years, Hingst married her husband she met swimming laps at the Kokomo YMCA and raised her two kids in the town, where she still lives today. She did some freelancing during that time and has recently published a book.

Hingst and her father also shared a love of reading and exchanged books. The last book she gave him was “The Bully Pulpit” by Doris Kearns Goodwin, one of her favorite authors.

Caldwell saved letters, essays, articles and more during his life. Hingst shares that passion for history. She discovered letters from her great grandparents from 1917 to 1919, during the Spanish flu epidemic. She made a scrapbook of the letters.

“Both their handwriting is beautiful, their thoughts are expressed beautifully,” she said.

Today, Hingst takes classes online in Christian apologetics to receive a master’s degree. The classes are focused on philosophy, history and the interaction between science and faith, which she said she wished she could have studied in college as well.

“I’m a learner at heart,” she said. “I’ll always be a student.”

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Luzane Draughon