Fox anchor earns Kansas honor ; Steve Doocy says rural upbringing taught him common sense, honesty

Steve Doocy, co-host of the "Fox & Friends" morning news show, as a child attended a one-room schoolhouse in Industry, Kan.

There, he said in a phone interview Wednesday, his teacher instilled in him "an uncommon common sense."

"Well, in Kansas it is common," Doocy said.

Doocy recently was named Distinguished Kansan of the Year by Kansas Native Sons and Daughters. He will be honored during a banquet Friday in the Maner Conference Centre.

When he received the email about the honor, Doocy said, he was "flabbergasted."

Doocy is the first honoree named a Distinguished Kansan of the Year since 2010, as the distinction isn't awarded every year, according to the Native Sons and Daughters website. In 2010, that honor was awarded to Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and in 2008 to University of Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self.

Recent Kansan of the Year honorees include Marilyn Maye, a cabaret singer and musical theater actress; Harold Stones, special projects director for Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.; Deanell Reece Tacha, a member of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; and former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates.

"He's a proud Kansan," Native Sons and Daughters co-president Rita Noll said of Doocy. "We thought that he exemplifies what it means to be a Kansan. He's never forgotten where he came from."

Doocy now lives in New Jersey and works at Fox News in New York City, but he grew up in Kansas and worked in the state during much of his early career. His family moved to Russell from Iowa when he was 5 years old. They later lived in Salina and then Industry.

Steve Doocy graduated from high school in Clay Center. He then attended The University of Kansas, where he received his bachelor's in journalism. While a student at KU, he said, he became the first voice on KJHK radio, the student-run station, on its first day of receiving its license from the FCC.

Beginning during his sophomore year at KU, Doocy also worked as a weekend weather man at Topeka'sKTSB-TV station, now KSNT. After graduation, he continuing work there as a Statehouse reporter. He also handled cut-ins from the "Today Show," filling spots with local news and weather updates twice each morning.

Doocy also worked at WOI-TV in Des Moines, KAKE-TV in Wichita and KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Mo., before moving in 1984 to Washington, D.C., to work for NBC. He moved to New York to host a daytime show for NBC, "House Party with Steve Doocy," and began working at Fox News Network when it launched about 17 years ago. He now hosts the morning news show "Fox & Friends" with Elizabeth Hasselbeck and Brian Kilmeade.

Doocy says his Kansas upbringing helped shape his perspective in many ways. He said teachers and people he knew through 4-H and Future Farmers of America taught him "to do the right thing, not the easy thing." He also learned to tell the truth.

"It's far more complicated to explain your way out of even a little white lie," he said.

And in Industry's one-room schoolhouse, he also learned something he said is still his philosophy today.

"Try to do your best, and do it with a smile on your face," Doocy said.

Doocy's father, Jim, and siblings live in Abilene. He has a wife, Kathy, and three children, Peter, Mary and Sally.