BEHIND THE LENS: WVUA's Dobbins Retires As One Of The Great Unsung Heroes Of Local News

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Keith Dobbins and his family made the hour or so drive from Carbon Hill to Tuscaloosa to visit the Children's Hands-On Museum and the Paul W. Bryant Museum.

The campus was magical in its own way and Dobbins felt a sense of place visiting the still-new Bryant Museum honoring a college football icon.

Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter and breaking news alerts.

The year was 1989 and Dobbins had already been working with a local television station in nearby Jasper — VIP TV on Channel 55 — mostly shooting sports for area high schools and at Walker College, while hosting a live call-in program.

But it was this fateful trip to the University of Alabama campus that would not only inspire him to go back to school and shape the course of his life for the next three decades, but touch the lives of the countless others he would impress upon or mentor as one of the most recognizable faces in local media.

Indeed, Dobbins officially retired this month after 25 years with the University of Alabama — a career that started when the Walker County resident first became an unpaid volunteer at the Alabama Center for Public Television.

That doesn't even count his service time in Walker County.

During nearly three decades working in Tuscaloosa, Dobbins was most-often seen behind the camera working to get that perfect shot or coaching a student reporter through an on-camera standup. Important work, central to the mission of developing the next generation of journalists.

And in 50 years, there will be reporters at all ends of the country reflecting on what they learned from Keith Dobbins.

"First of all, we're out shooting news and telling stories, so, yes, it's nice to get a pat on the back," Dobbins said in an extended interview with Patch. "But my satisfaction comes from if we did good with a story. If we presented the facts ... and these young kids who are just getting started, they need the publicity more than I do."

Dobbins says he has no plans of completely leaving the news business — something he points out is "in his blood."

But in the spirit of this chapter of his life coming to a close, Tuscaloosa Patch set out to tell the story of such a storied career by speaking with Dobbins and others who worked with him over the years.

ORIGINS

Born in Trumann, Arkansas on Jan. 10, 1958, Dobbins also lived part of his childhood in Tennessee before his family made its way to Walker County. His father, Bill, made a good living for the family in the service station business, with Dobbins initially growing up and running a station in Jasper while his brother, Greg, ran the family's other operation in Carbon Hill.

The veteran reporter said his father served as a kind of "referee" during those formative years.

Dobbins is quick to credit his father with instilling in him valuable traits like work ethic and compassion for those around him, but something about the family business just wasn't for him.

And in 1982, Dobbins began trying his hand at the burgeoning technology of video.

He bought his first boxy camcorder and the rest, as the cliché goes, is history.

"I just started getting more and more interested," he explained years later to Patch. "They had that TV station (in Jasper) and I thought I'd love to help them with football. I volunteered with them a year, and then I'd go do some stuff on weekends, like basketball games and Walker College."

Even in those early days, the small-time local station in Jasper was forward-thinking in its approach to covering its community. Indeed, Dobbins said VIP TV even provided a live, two-camera broadcast of Walker County High School football games, with the station hard-wired to the broadcast location at the high school.

Despite also doing sales and some sports coverage, Dobbins parlayed his experience and proved his talents to the right people at the station, ultimately earning himself a live call-in show focusing on local and regional sports.

There was no tape delay for the show and Dobbins relished in the present thinking back to regular callers ranging from a little girl talking about her grades, to a man with special needs discussing his day-to-day activities.

While Dobbins has since ascended to even higher heights in the journalism world — freelancing for the likes of ESPN and others — this was a formative time for him, complete with being recognized on the streets of Jasper or when out to eat with his wife and having to stop to sign an autograph.

"I miss that we didn't do hardly any national news," he recalled. "But we would focus on high school, peewee, little league ... my wife got the point she hated going out to eat with me. But for the show, I ended every one with the line 'I'm hoping all your days end in touchdowns,' and that really stuck."

The 1980s were a fun time for Dobbins and a halcyon era for local news across the United States before the excess of the 1990s and the Dot-com Era.

But let's fast-forward to the turn of the decade and that trip Dobbins took with his family to Tuscaloosa. The family was doing just fine at the time as Dobbins and his wife owned a few video stores and tanning booths in Walker County.

On its face, there was no pressing need for a career change.

Still, even his wife Anita — whom he first met when she was a customer at the service station in Jasper and married in 1981 — knew where her husband's heart for work was.

And wouldn't you know it? She encouraged him to go back to school to get his degree in order to make the most of it, considering he was no longer a young man in the academic sense.

"She's got to be a good person to put up with me for that long," he said. "So I started back at the University of Alabama about 1990 and got my degree and went to work at the university then."

REALIZING THE DREAM

There have been many high points in the journalism career of Keith Dobbins.

After all, he's interviewed governors, served as a mentor along the way for shining stars in the business and traveled in the same vehicle as Nick Saban.

But it's his attitude that was mentioned time and again in interviews with those who have worked around Dobbins for years — icons like Crimson Tide broadcaster Chris Stewart.

“Keith was one of my all-time favorite people to work with,"Stewart told Patch. "He has a heart of gold, and always knew had his priorities in order. You knew that from the way he always talks about his family. He cared about his job, but his passion has always been the people that he loved most. And that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

Dobbins even had the rare opportunity to join longtime WVUA 23 reporter Chelsea Barton on one of the "Honor Flights" transporting World War II and Korean War veterans to Washington, D.C. for a series of ceremonies.

"I will never forget the incredible stories Keith Dobbins has helped me tell," Barton told Patch. "He’s one of the good ones. WVUA will never be the same. It makes me so happy to think about Keith finally being able to close this chaotic career we love and focus on his family. It’s a well-deserved retirement.”

While that trip with local veterans was a major experience for Dobbins, he always seems to circle back to not just his love for University of Alabama athletics, but his love of sports and the impact those like radio icon and Crimson Tide Sports Network Director of Broadcasting Tom Roberts had on his journalism career.

When Dobbins received news that he would be working with Roberts, he told Patch he felt like he really had accomplished so much of what he had set out to do when he bought that video camera in the early 80s.

He had made it.

"The first time I get to meet Tom Roberts was a big deal because I dealt with him on the radio because of the Coach's Show in Jasper," Dobbins said. "I felt like it was a huge deal."

Roberts was generous in his time speaking to Patch about his longstanding respect for Dobbins and said the pair spent a lot of time traveling together for football when Dobbins became the main photographer for the Nick Saban Show.

"We traveled together the season that we won the national championship against Notre Dame," Roberts recalled of the 2013 BCS Championship Game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. "He and my son Brian and I drove to every single away game that year, which was some incredibly long road trips. So we got to know each other pretty darn well.

"Keith is one of those guys that works hard no matter what position that he's in," Roberts added. "And I think he really relished the opportunity to be a mentor to so many of the young kids that went through with the way he talked about them all the time. He was so proud of their accomplishments and he was there to give them advice, to help them figure out how to tell their story, to help them figure out ways to make the stories better and how to be much more appealing to the viewing public. He just had it as a knack for being kind of a big brother or a father, but either way, he's just been a great mentor to the young ones that came through TV right while I was there."

WVUA 23's Chelsea Barton is one of those who has benefitted greatly from the wisdom offered by Dobbins and could regularly be seen delivering a report into a camera operated by the veteran newsman.

“I’ll never forget the first day I walked into Keith Dobbins’ office and he said ‘I’m going to put you on TV,'" she told Patch. "I thought, ‘yeah right,’ but I learned that day Keith is a man of his word. He put me on TV for the first time a few days later. I wasn’t great, but he made me feel like I was. He gave me the confidence I needed to pursue my dream of becoming a news reporter."

Barton explained that the constant guidance she received from behind the camera over the next decade was important and formative in her own career. But her family was also thankful for the in-kind protection offered by Dobbins over the last 12 years.

"In news, we find ourselves in some less-than-desirable situations," Barton said. "Sometimes, they’re heated and uncomfortable. If Keith was there with me in those instances, I always felt safe and knew everything would be alright. He’s been my ‘work dad’ for over a decade."

Tuscaloosa Police Department spokeswoman and former Tuscaloosa News crime reporter Stephanie Taylor knows the professional hazards faced in the news business but also spoke to the versatility and thoughtful approach to reporting shown by Dobbins over the years — qualities that often go under-appreciated in today's media ecosystem.

"Keith could spend the morning interviewing very important people at a very important event, then the afternoon at the pool interviewing kids about their favorite ice cream," Taylor said. "And he’d give the same amount of effort and show the same amount of respect to both — because he understood the importance of both."

Taylor went on to say she knows journalists all over the country who've learned so much from working under Dobbins. The basics, Taylor explained, like learning how to get a shot just right or how to ask a tough question or even just how to approach somebody.

"Although we never worked at the same place, we’ve worked alongside one another for years," she said. "I’m glad to call Keith a great colleague and friend and I hope he loves every minute of being retired."

Here's what some other local reporters had to say about working with Dobbins:

"Keith and I covered a lot of miles together and in addition to the work aspect, we enjoyed each other’s company. Keith was a true pro to work with and awesome to hang out with. We’ve known each other for more than 20 years and it’s been my pleasure to call him a colleague, but more importantly a friend."

- Gary Harris, WVUA 23 News sports director

"Keith Dobbins is a good guy and dear friend. I’ve known Keith many years and we’ve covered a lot of news stories together. I will miss my buddy but at the same time I’m glad to see he will be moving into a new phase of his life and will be able to spend more time with his family. Keith was a great news photographer and a dedicated journalist who worked hard to inform the community about current events. Keith, my friend, I will miss seeing you on the streets covering news but you’ve earned a much needed retirement, so enjoy it my brother."

- Tim Reid, CBS 42 News reporter

"Keith Dobbins always understood what the mission of WVUA 23 should be. While serving all of West Alabama, it is also a classroom for future journalists. Keith patiently worked with our students, helped them improve and get their first jobs in television news. I never heard him say 'that’s not my job.' His skills, kindness and big heart will be missed."

- Mike Royer, retired Alabama TV news icon

Dobbins is quick to shy away from compliments and his retirement from WVUA 23 has been a quiet one after an illustrious and award-winning career that began at the university as the studio operations manager at the Alabama Center For Public Television.

Titles and glory never mattered all that much to Dobbins, though. No, it was about family first — his wife, late step-son, daughters and grandkids — then doing a story the right way and offering wisdom to those coming up behind him. He wanted to give the chances to the next generation as so many had done for him.

"I look back and there's some pictures on Facebook, pictures of some moments through the years, and I just think of how blessed I've been to have done so much," he said. "It's those things that mean so much when it comes to the relationships you build with these kids. And to watch them grow up to do what they are are doing now ... maybe I did one little thing or two that they took and picked up on. I've been lucky to work with such great people."

Tuscaloosa Patch hopes all of your days end in touchdowns, Keith!

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com