You gotta like these old school journalists. Today, I sat in on a luncheon at The Rainier Club organized by The Washington News Council with a special guest talking about his 50-plus-year career in journalism: Don Hewitt, the former executive producer and creator of "60 Minutes."

He told us at the beginning of his one-hour talk what was important in broadcast: audio, that what you hear, the writing, is what brings the story to life.

He did that for us.

"60 Minutes" cast circa 1993, with Don Hewitt at the far right (BOB STRONG/AFP/Getty Images)

He told us about working with Edward R. Murrow back in 1953, when it was unheard of to have coverage of an event broadcast the same day. But these two and their crew filmed the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, turned a chartered plane into a flying newsroom and edited the show over the Atlantic so that when they landed in New York, it was ready to go.

Hewitt, 85, is in the area for the 34th Edward R. Murrow Symposium, which will honor him Thursday at Washington State University's Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum.

Through questioning by moderator Steve Raible of KIRO/7 Eyewitness News, we found out more. That he riled Frank Sinatra so much Blue Eyes threatened to kill him. That he told Dan Rather to "sock him [Abraham Zapruder] in the mouth," "grab his film" recording the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, make a copy, apologize to him and then give it back.

He called Rather back to call the whole thing off after his reason returned, but he felt then, as he does now, that, "it was a piece of history that belonged to everybody."

Hewitt also talked about his competitive zeal, once going so far as to steal a rival network's remote truck waiting for an appearance of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

He told the students at the luncheon: "Don't do what I did. You'll get fired."

He made us laugh with his stories and insights like this: "In TV, you compete with everyone. You make plans to see a movie, you're committed. You might not like it, but you don't walk out. You can walk out on TV shows. That remote is like a gun. You're killing people all night long!"

I walked away chuckling, and in awe of Hewitt's chutzpah and journalistic integrity. He showed us what storytelling is all about. I hope those students realize how lucky they were to learn from him.