Journalist Don Bolles paid the ultimate price for his work. Here's why we're retracing his steps

Don Bolles pushed Arizona into the modern age.

And it killed him.

The tall, tough reporter for The Arizona Republic took on big characters in the 1960s and the 1970s: Barry Goldwater; Kemper Marley, a purveyor of land and liquor; and Emprise, a dog- and horse-racing conglomerate that was on friendly terms with mobsters.

He bristled at the state’s dominant fiefdoms of the time, rooting out crooks and political hacks and the chumminess that elevated the connected over the virtuous.

His courage could not be overestimated.

“The Republic really made a big difference and one reason was that Don Bolles, more than anyone else, was really onto this stuff,” says former U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, who served two-terms as governor and attorney general of Arizona. “He had been writing about it. Really getting into the details, keeping it alive.”

Babbitt, the state’s top attorney in 1976 when Bolles was murdered, was second on the hitman’s list.

Bolles was No. 1.

Forty-three years after Bolles’ last story, The Republic is re-examining his influential reporting using recently uncovered files, notes and tapes. In the coming months, we will retrace his steps and look back at how the Phoenix of Bolles' era shaped the city today.

We will publish rare glimpses into Bolles’ investigations and new details about the targets of his reporting, some never shared before and many available only to us.

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That journey begins with Sunday’s story by longtime Republic reporter Richard Ruelas, who is digging into Bolles’ reporting life in the 1970s and the mysteries that vexed him.

As we explore this tumultuous period in Arizona statehood, we want to hear your memories of the days when Bolles hounded Arizona’s underworld, sometimes meeting sources at a restaurant that still stands today on Central Avenue operated by James E. “Jack” Durant, a former pit boss at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.

‘God, it must be Don’: How The Republic covered the bombing of Don Bolles

P. Kim Bui, The Republic’s audience innovation director, created this portal for you to share anecdotes about the 1970s and photos, documents or tips about Bolles and his investigations. You can stay connected to our project by signing up there, and we'll update you as new stories publish and more is found.

We want to know what Bolles and his stories mean to you today and what you want to know about his journalism and the world he lived in.

It’s impossible to ignore what Don Bolles means to journalism.

His photograph hangs in The Republic newsroom. One other journalist is honored in that space — reporter Charles Thornton who was killed in 1985 in an attack by Russian helicopters in Afghanistan.

After Bolles' death, a nascent group of muckrakers calling themselves “Investigative Reporters and Editors” attracted nationwide attention by vowing to finish Bolles’ work — “You can’t kill a story by killing a reporter.” As we reexamine Bolles' work, we will also be exploring their work, published as “The Arizona Project” in 1977.

Bolles and Myrta Pulliam, were instrumental in establishing IRE, now the nation’s premier investigative training and support network. Two years ago, IRE named a medal after Bolles to honor journalists “exhibiting extraordinary courage in standing up against intimidation or efforts to suppress the truth about matters of public importance.”

The stories we’re preparing to reveal show why Bolles’ life’s work is still of profound public importance.

“He was one reporter who really understood what was going on and had a factual grasp,” Babbitt says. “And, of course, he paid the price.”

Greg Burton is Executive Editor at The Arizona Republic.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: A reporter paid the ultimate price. Here's why we're retracing his steps