At 7:59 a.m. Central Time on Friday, February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentry over rural East Texas, claiming the lives of seven astronauts.
At that moment, I was just a college kid, sleeping off a night at the local bar, Jitterbugs. A sudden, deafening bang jolted me awake. I had no idea what it was—but that sound would shape the rest of my life.
Back then, I loved shooting news and features, but my real passion—at least at the time—was sports photography. Working for the student newspaper gave me access to shoot games, and I filled my days with daily assignments, party photos, and occasional freelance work. I had covered a story for USA Today and even worked an MTV gig for a fraternity house giveaway, but nothing on a national scale.
That Friday morning, my flip phone rang way too early to be good news. First, it was my Pine Log editor, Chris Anderson, shouting at me to get moving while filling me in on what had just happened. Then, an unfamiliar number flashed on the screen.
Plate one
“Hello?”, “Sam, it’s Paul White from USA Today…”
Plate two
The rest of that conversation is lost to time, but that call—and the week that followed—marked a turning point in my career. Not because my photos made the front pages—honestly, I don’t even know if USA Today used anything I shot—but because that week cemented my purpose. It clarified why I was in journalism and why I wanted to dedicate my life to photography. I realized that what truly fueled my creativity wasn’t sports—it was storytelling. Capturing moments, emotions, and history as they unfolded.
I had never covered a national tragedy before. I didn’t know what to expect or how to process my own community suddenly being under a magnifying glass for the world. It wasn’t like today, where everyone has a camera and social media feeds are flooded with every angle of an event. It was intimate. It was local. It was in person. It was real.
I worked alongside photographers I admired from all over the state and country—many of whom I’m now fortunate to call friends. I worked 14-hour days or more, editing photos, writing copy, and designing pages in the Pine Log offices. I chased down leads across East Texas, covering every angle I could. We were brought together by tragedy, covering history as it happened.
Five frames
Six frames
Five frames
Three frames
Sam Craft
February 1, 2025
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