May 5 is National Cartoonist Day. Did you know Illinois was home to Jack Higgins, a Pulitzer Prize- winning cartoonist?

Higgins was born in Chicago in 1954 as one of seven children. He grew up in the city and attended St. Ignatius College Prep. His journalist career began in 1978 as an editorial cartoonist for the Daily Northwestern, Northwestern University’s student newspaper, despite not being a student. He soon landed at the Chicago Sun-Times in 1981, where he spent the next 25 years as an editorial cartoonist.

Higgins won his Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for his comic depicting vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle with a golf club in his hand, asking Vietnamese children if he can ‘play through’ as they run in distress. The comic drew attention to the candidate for remaining in the Indiana National Guard during the Vietnam War.

As a lifelong resident of Chicago, Higgins often provided a satirical approach to political misconduct throughout the city and state. In 2009, he compiled over 200 of his cartoons into a book called “My Kind of ‘Toon, Chicago is: Political Cartoons.”

In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Higgins received the Illinois Journalist of the Year award in 1996, the John Fischetti Award in 1998 and the Best of the Press from the Illinois Press Association in 1997 and 2000.

Higgins passed away on Feb. 10, 2024 at the age of 69. He will live on through the clever entertainment his artwork provided to those across Chicago and Illinois.