Ted Thorne

Ted Thorne (John “Ted” Thorne) (October 16, 1929 in Detroit, Michigan – April 3, 2007 in Michigan City, Indiana), at 17 became the youngest sports editor of a daily newspaper in the state of Indiana, the Michigan City News-Dispatch. He was a television newscaster at WGN in Chicago during the mid-1950s and early 1960s.

Despite being a resident of Michigan City, Indiana, Thorne influenced public opinion in Gary where he served as news and program director of radio station WWCA. Thorne hosted the popular noontime program, "Sound-Off.". He also delivered expanded newscasts at 12PM and 5PM. He also briefly served as news director at station WLOI in LaPorte, Indiana, a sister station to WWCA. In the 1960s, Thorne served as the television host for Chicago's WTTW, when that station aired the Northwest Indiana regional basketball tournaments each winter.

From 1978 to 1983, he was general manager of WIMS Radio in Michigan City, Indiana. His career allowed him to travel worldwide and to meet notable politicians and personalities including U.S. presidents Kennedy, Nixon, Carter and Reagan. Ted had also interviewed baseball legends Ernie Banks and Ted Williams and film stars Paul Newman and Jimmy Stewart.

He emceed several local events including the Miss Gary and Miss Indiana scholarship pageants. He graduated from Michigan City's Elston High School in 1947 and attended Indiana University. He was a past member of the Indiana Association of Broadcasters and the Michigan City Exchange Club.

Thorne married Nancy L. Schrader in 1951. She preceded him in death in 1993. They had two children Deborah, who married Brian Armstrong and had two children, Ian and Emily Armstrong; and Jeffrey, who married Joanne, and had two children, Jennelle and Julia Thorne.