Frank W. Mayborn

Temple Daily Telegram, Sherman Democrat
Killeen Daily Herald, Taylor Daily Press

Hall of Fame Class of 2026

Frank W. Mayborn began his newspaper career as a stringer for the Denver Post while still in high school. He was a summer worker at the San Diego Dispatch and later became a correspondent for the United Press wire service before becoming an advertising salesman for The Dallas Morning News. In 1929, along with his father and brother, Mayborn bought the Telegram Publishing Co., publisher of the Temple Daily Telegram. Later he also owned the Sherman Democrat, the Killeen Daily Herald and the Taylor Daily Press.

He was a communication pioneer in other media, too. In 1936 he started radio station KTEM in

Temple; in 1945 he founded WMAK in Nashville; and in 1952 he founded KCEN-TV in Temple.

Mayborn enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in various posts, including the staff of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, where he  was assistant chief of the U.S. public relations office. He enlisted in 1942 at the age of 39 as a private and left the military in 1945 with the rank of major and having earned the Bronze Star.

As publisher in the Fort Hood region, Mayborn maintained his close ties to the military and effectively supported the economic, educational and political interests of his region.

He was an industry leader, a fierce advocate for his community, a tireless champion for civic betterment and a generous benefactor to his fellow citizens.

Mayborn died of a heart attack on May 16, 1987. His name lives on through the Frank W. and Sue Mayborn Foundation, the Frank Mayborn Auditorium at Temple’s Cultural Activities Center; the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas; and the Frank W. Mayborn Leadership Award, created in 2004 by the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.