Mason Dobson was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, October 18, 1891. He attended Beloit College Academy and starred in football and basketball. From this came his great interest in sports and programs for young people. He became sports writer for the Beloit Daily News in 1913. His newspaper career covered all facets of the profession – sports writer of the old Beloit Free Press, reporter and editor of the Beloit Daily News. In 1940 he became co-publisher of the Daily News with Ray Collins and Clint Karstedt. He sold his interests to Walter Strong in 1949.

He was a Civil Wall history student and authority and wrote a book on General Elon Farnsworth of Rockton who was killed at Gettysburg. He was a student of Beloit and Rock County history and edited the “Book of Beloit” published for the city’s centennial in 1936. He was active in the Beloit, Rock County and State Historical Societies. A booster of young people, he was on the original board of directors for the Boy Scouts of Beloit and was presented the National Council’s Boy Scout Statuette in 1943. His interest in young people led him to make available the money for the National Marbles Tournament in Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, the Soap Box Derby, Silver Skates Derby, Children’s Field Day and similar events sponsored by the Beloit Daily News. He gave wide support to the city recreational programs, the YMCA, the YWCA and annual water carnivals at the Natatorium.

Over age for military service in World War II, Mr. Dobson went through various channels to be appointed a Red Cross foreign administrator, working with medical teams and hospitals in Italy and Sicily. He also was an administrator of relief following the war and was awarded the Cross of Malta, the Cross of Merit and other decorations by the Pope and the government of Italy. He was an active Republican and attended several National Republican Conventions.

He was a founder of the Beloit chapter of the Izaak Walton League and with Fred O’Neal and George Perring started “The Good Fellows” who functioned at Christmas time. He was a member of the Kiwanis Club, a first sergeant with Company L of the Wisconsin National Guard, a director of the Morse Memorial Foundation, belonged to various Masonic orders, the Madison Consistory, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and was a founder of the Beloit Camera Club along with Wiley Smith, Glen Franz and Horace Magee. Mason Dobson died in Shirland, Illinois, at his rural home in December of 1952.