How did he make the transition from a summer job at a local television station to an award-winning writer/producer? As DeVinney tells it, timing is everything.

After leaving Fort Wayne in 1966 to attend Penn State University, he worked at the college station, directing station breaks and running some of the control room equipment.

“They thought because I knew how to do that, that I was a director; so they had me begin directing some actual programs; and as it happens, I began producing those shows, too.”

DeVinney said that after a while, he gave up directing to become a full-time producer. In 1971, he began a 30-plus year relationship with public broadcasting stations, first in Rochester, N.Y., then Pittsburgh and on to Boston. He began producing, writing and directing documentaries in the mid-1980s when he joined Blackside, Inc., to work on the civil rights series, Eye on the Prize, which was viewed on television by 22 million. One of his films in that series, Bridge to Freedom, was nominated for a 1987 Academy Award in the documentary features category. The film went on to win an Emmy for outstanding individual achievement in writing.

DeVinney formed his own production company in 1996 and has done work for such clients as the History Channel, CBS News Productions, A&E Television. He decided to move back to Fort Wayne because, as he said, “It’s that time in my life to come back home. Fort Wayne is not the end of the world! So much work is done from a distance these days that my being in Fort Wayne is not a hardship.”

DeVinney is looking forward to teaching. “Eventually, you have enough experiences of your own that you can draw on-—that’s why I want to teach—to pass on what I know to the writers of tomorrow.”