K. Mack Sisk, longtime UPI reporter, dies

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Kenny Mack Sisk, a longtime United Press International reporter known for his coverage of sensational crimes in South Texas, has died at the age of 67.

Sisk died Tuesday at a hospice in Austin, Texas. The cause of death was cancer, family members said.

Sisk's reporting of high-profile shootings, such as the capture of Mexican drug lord Fred Gomez Carrasco not far from Sisk's south San Antonio house or the assassination of U.S. District Judge John Wood, were remembered by colleagues as indicative of Sisk's ability to work a story.

"Mack was at the scene of lots of big Texas stories in the '70s and the '80s," said former UPI Texas State Editor Phil Magers. "I remember best his great reporting from the scene of federal Judge John Wood's assassination in San Antonio in 1979. … On the phone, it was classic Mack Sisk, dictating the facts, adding color and quotes, building his story.

"He was a master at that kind of reporting -- there was nobody any better -- and he always gave it 100 percent."

Sisk grew up in Idalou in the Texas Panhandle and attended Texas Tech University in nearby Lubbock for one semester before joining the U.S. Navy, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

After four years in the service he returned to Texas Tech and later joined UPI as a statehouse reporter in Austin. He also worked for the Associated Press and the San Antonio Light and The Brownsville Herald newspapers.