Bruno Robert Torres, was a long time news photographer and photo bureau manager for United Press International (UPI). He worked 32 years for UPI in St. Louis, Chicago, and Houston, until UPI declared bankruptcy and laid off nearly all of its staff in 1991. Bruno said it was “one of the most interesting jobs in the world.”
When he retired from the Houston Chronicle he was asked to speak to the staff on the editorial floor. He described what an honor it was to be a professional journalist and have access from the Mayor’s office to the Governor’s mansion, and from the “share-cropper’s shack", to the White House.
Bruno Torres was born in 1934 in Avoca, Iowa. His parents, Bedardo and Constancia Torres, were immigrants from Mexico. After graduating Avoca High School in 1952, Bruno worked one summer on the Rock Island railroad laying ties and spiking in a new railroad track in Hancock, Iowa. Afterward, he joined and served four years in the U.S. Air Force, training as an aircraft mechanic.
After his military service, with the Korean War, “G. I. Bill,” Bruno was able to graduate with a BA degree from our University of Iowa School of Journalism. During his junior and senior year, he worked as a “photo stringer” for United Press International (UPI). He also had a summer internship as a photographer at the Des Moines Register. Bruno says "I absolutely praise the University of Iowa, School of Journalism for starting me on a wonderful career as a news photographer!"
Torres was officially hired by UPI in 1961. He worked 32 years as a staff photographer and Newspictures bureau manager in St. Louis, Chicago, and Houston. He finished a 43-year career in the newspaper business in 2004 as a photo lab and digital imaging technician for the Houston Post and the Houston Chronicle.
Career Highlights
In the mid 1960's Torres covered two major civil rights marches: Selma to Montgomery, Alabama with Martin Luther King; and Memphis to the capitol in Jackson, Mississippi after James Meredith was shot. And I also covered Martin Luther King's funeral in Atlanta after King’s assassination.
Torres photographed a lot of sports, such as Indianapolis 500 races, St. Louis Cardinal Baseball World Series games, All-Star baseball games in St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Kansas City, helped cover four Olympic Games, Pan American Games, even heavyweight championship fights; one by Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston; two Mohammed Ali fights, and one withJoe Frazier!
On the political scene, Torres helped cover five national political conventions: 1964 Republicans in San Francisco; 1968 Democrats in Chicago and the "Days of Rage" rioting during the Chicago Democratic Convention; and the 1972 Democrats in Miami, 1980 Republicans in Detroit, and 1989 Republicans in New Orleans, and 1992 Republicans in Houston.
After the 1972 Democrat National Convention in Miami, he was assigned to cover Senator George McGovern's presidential campaign, and traveled with Senator McGovern’s “Press Pool” from July to October, going from coast to coast. He covered two Nixon presidential inaugurations, funerals of President's Dwight Eisenhower 1969; and Harry Truman 1972.
Other important and interesting stories Torres helped photograph for UPI around the globe were the Indian Reservation uprising at Wounded Knee 1973, Latin American Foreign Minister's Conference 1974, the Organization of American States 1975, World Bicycling Championships 1977, the World Soccer Cup in Argentina, 1978, and the Daniel Ortega – Violeta Chamorro presidential election in Nicaragua, 1990. Torres photographed Pope John-Paul trips to Mexico, Chicago, San Antonio, and Denver over the years.
Some interesting “Front Page” stories Torres covered included the “Baby Jessica” story, when an 18-month old baby girl fell into an 8-inch diameter water well pipe, and was rescued after a two-day drama national TV, in Midland, Texas in 1987. He also assisted photo coverage of the Waco, Texas Branch Davidian tragedy in 1993, when four ATF agents were killed and 82 Davidians died in an assault and fire of the Davidian Compound.
Overall, Bruno Torres enjoyed an incredible career after his education in Journalism. He wants to remind Journalists today and today's students never to forget the responsibility and trust journalists have to report the “TRUTH!”