Calvin “Cal” Bryant is a 1973 graduate of Chowan College with an Associate of Arts degree in Graphic Arts. He took that education and used it to launch a newspaper career that now spans over 25 years. Bryant’s professional career began in the newspaper production at Parker Brothers, Inc. in Ahoskie, where he spent time learning the trade in the areas of camera room/offset dark room, editorial darkroom, platemaking and press. In the meantime, he developed a knack for sports writing and photography, a “hobby” that he would later use to climb the career ladder.
In 1975, Bryant left Ahoskie for a job in Raleigh, working for Colbert Howell, a professional/commercial photographer. There, Bryant was able to gain additional photography and photo lab skills. He returned to Ahoskie and the News-Herald (now the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald) in 1977 and assumed his old job in the camera room. He left again in 1979, taking a similar position at the Daily Southerner in Tarboro, NC. In 1982, Bryant moved to Garner, NC where he served as Production Manager for the Garner News. He also covered high school athletics while in Tarboro and Garner.
Two years later, Bryant was back at the News-Herald, again serving as Supervisor of the offset camera room/darkroom. At nights, he would cover high school and collegiate athletics, including games at Chowan College. In 1989, Bryant was named the Sports Editor of the News-Herald where he oversaw the sports coverage of eight area high schools and Chowan College. In 1995, he received three awards, including two first-place honors for sports reporting and feature photography, from the NC Press Association. That same organization honored Bryant again in 1999 with a first-place award in sports column writing.
In the fall of 2000, Bryant was promoted to the position of News Editor at the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald to oversee a staff of seven full-time employees and five correspondents.
Bryant, the son of Ray and Blanche Bryant of Ashley’s Grove community near Murfreesboro, is a 1971 graduate of Northampton County High School (now Northampton-East High School). He has been married for more than 20 years years to Deborah Vann Bryant, formerly of Lewiston. The couple resides in Ahoskie and have one daughter.
