The late Matthew Tully, BAJ’92, was an award-winning reporter and columnist for The Indianapolis Star before his life was tragically cut short by cancer in 2018 at age 49. During his abbreviated journalism career, Tully built a reputation as a fair-minded but rigorous commentator who created a remarkable body of work.
Tully grew up in Gary and Portage, Indiana, where his fascination with newspapers and journalism began in childhood. After graduating from Indiana University, he returned to Gary as a reporter with the Post-Tribune, where he covered crime news and the Indiana General Assembly.
For five years, he covered the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C., including Sept. 11, 2001, as a reporter with Congressional Quarterly.
He returned to Indiana in 2002 to work as a reporter with The Indianapolis Star, writing nearly 2,000 columns. In 2004, he was the Star’s lead reporter in covering gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels. In 2005, he became the Star’s political columnist, a role that would define his career and cement his rank among the best journalists in Indiana.
Tully was named Indiana Journalist of the Year in 2008 by the Society of Professional Journalists.
In 2009, Tully began a series of columns called “The Manual Project,” reporting on the complex challenges facing Manual High School. The more than 30-column series touched the heart of Indianapolis and prompted Star readers to donate almost $100,000 to assist the school.
“This wasn’t a column about education as much as it was a column about a community,” former Star editor Dennis Ryerson later told the newspaper. “Matt was always challenging people to do the right thing. He worked very hard, and he was a man of the highest ethics.’’
The series inspired an initiative now called Our Children, which helps fund charity organizations targeted at youth. In the past decade, the campaign has raised millions of dollars to support local charities that educate, mentor, and feed at-risk kids in Central Indiana.
In 2010, Tully won the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism for his coverage of Manual. He published a book — “Searching for Hope: Life at a Failing School in the Heart of America” — in 2012 about his experiences at the school.
Tully was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 2019.
Tully leaves a storytelling legacy that is remembered fondly by his readership.