John Softness hitchhiked to the University of Miami in the summer of 1951 from his hometown in Brooklyn, N.Y., with a vague intention of going to law school.  “People would say ‘what are you studying?’ and I would say pre-law, but I really had no great ambition to become a lawyer,” he said. 

Softness found his academic path by chance, like almost everything in his life. 

His career as a writer would begin to take form after showing a friend an essay he had written for his remedial English class.  After reading it, John Schulte, assistant sports editor for the school paper at the time, asked him if he knew how to write sports.  With an open mind, Softness replied, “I guess so.”

“I went to the library, and there was a book on sports writing.  There was this whole chapter about clichés,” Softness said.  He was told clichés were the “bane of a writer’s existence” but chose to do the exact opposite.  He used each of them in his coverage of the Tulane v. Miami football game. 

The article was published a few days later.  “I became the sensation of the campus,” Softness said.

In 1952, he became sports editor.  The next semester, Softness was promoted to managing editor, and then, editor-in-chief, a title he kept for two years.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the School of Arts and Sciences, Softness immediately entered the United States Air Force. He flew B-47 bomber jets and “became the editor of every base newspaper,” he said.

After fulfilling his duties and unsuccessfully finding a job in New York City, Softness came across an ad that read, “Writer with Aerial Knowledge Wanted.”

“I looked at my wife and said, ‘hey, I could do this.’” And with his stack of published articles, and four years of flying experience, Softness got the job in less than 10 minutes. 

Standard protocol at his new job called for every employee to punch in when they arrive at work.  Softness thought otherwise, as he had done with his first experience with sports writing and clichés. 

“Before this, I was a captain in the United States Air Force,” he said. “I don’t punch in for anybody.”

Contradicting the norm has been the story of his life.

Later working directly under “the great aviator,” Jimmy Doolittle, at Shell Oil Company, Softness created his own work routine.  “While I worked for [Doolittle], I never met him, saw him, or reported to him,” he said.  Free to make his own choices, Softness decided to report on Shell’s participation in the U.S. Armed Forces. 

“I traveled all around the world and went on refueling missions and submarine rides in the Mediterranean,” he said. “But I decided if I’m going to work by myself, then I might as well work for myself—so I founded a PR [public relations] firm.”

He said the company represented both large corporations and private individuals.  Through his work, Softness met celebrities, such as Barbara Streisand, and befriended boxers Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano.

Softness has a natural social and outgoing personality that was a key element in his public relations career, Carol Blades, his wife, said.  “He’s very affable.  [It is] a very strong plus in his business,” she said.

After 37 years, Softness sold the company in 1997 and moved back down to Miami.

When he arrived, he was once again given the opportunity to try something new. 

“I met with the dean of the [UM] business school at the time, Paul Sugrue, and he asked me if I knew how to write speeches, and I said ‘sure’.”

Sugrue set up an interview with Alex Penelas, Miami-Dade county mayor at the time.  Penelas asked Softness what he would do for him. Unprepared for the encounter, he plainly told the mayor, “I will do for you what Ted Sorensen did for JFK [President John Kennedy] and what Peggy Noonan did for Ronald Reagan.”

“You’re hired,” Penelas immediately replied.

Softness’ eldest son, Barney, 52, said his father often acts “like a teenager.”

“He’s full of life,” he said.  “Even now, he still does whatever he wants to do,” the younger Softness said.

The former Miami Hurricane editor is now living in Coconut Grove, Fla.  He teaches a graduate speechwriting course at the University of Miami and still writes speeches for business and political leaders. 

Softness said he has no intention of retiring and has no regrets professionally.  “Life takes you places that just sort of happens,” he said.