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SPORTSSaturday 5 March 2016
Bud Collins, U.S. voice of tennis
in print and on TV, has died
In this June 30, 1993, file photo, NBC tennis commentator Bud HOWARD FENDRICH audiences waking up for ciful adjectives and apt
Collins displays a pair of brightly-colored trousers as he sits AP Tennis Writer “Breakfast at Wimbledon” metaphors, spot-on refer-
overlooking the outside courts at Wimbledon, England . Bud Collins, the tennis histo- on NBC. Collins spent 35 ences to art and history.
rian and American voice of years on that network’s Among the monikers he’s
Associated Press the sport in print and on TV annual coverage from the credited with bestow-
for decades, has died. He All England Club and also ing on star tennis play-
was 86. worked as a tennis analyst ers: “Fraulein Forehand”
His wife, Anita Ruthling for PBS, CBS, ESPN and Ten- for Steffi Graf, and “Sisters
Klaussen, said in a tele- nis Channel. Sledgehammer” for Venus
phone interview that Col- “A legend and a gentle- and Serena Williams.
lins died Friday at home in man with a unique style, He also wrote about other
Brookline, Massachusetts, Bud’s analysis and on-court sports, including baseball
after suffering from Parkin- interviews were must-see and boxing.
son’s disease and demen- TV for millions of American When Collins was induct-
tia. tennis fans,” NBC Sports ed into the tennis hall, he
Inducted into the Interna- said in a statement Friday. quipped: “I’ve been hang-
tional Tennis Hall of Fame Arthur “Bud” Collins was ing around there so much,
in 1994, Collins was well- born on June 17, 1929, in they figured they had to let
known for creative player Lima, Ohio, and went to me in.”
nicknames and turns of Baldwin-Wallace College, Collins authored several
phrase that were as color- followed by graduate books, including “Bud Col-
ful as his trademark bow school at Boston Univer- lins’ Tennis Encyclopedia,”
ties and one-of-a-kind sity. He coached tennis at and won the Red Smith
pants created from cloth Brandeis University, worked Award for sports journalism
he collected around the for the Boston Herald, then presented by The Associ-
world. began writing for the Bos- ated Press Sports Editors in
Collins contributed to ten- ton Globe in 1963. 1999. The National Sports-
nis’ popularity and paved Collins described himself writers and Sportscasters
the way for newspaper re- as a “scribbler and a bab- Hall of Fame inducted Col-
porters moving into broad- bler,” and he mastered lins in 2002.
casting, becoming a famil- both forms. His writing style The International Tennis
iar face to U.S. television was unique, filled with fan- Writers Association hands
out a Bud Collins Award
to recognize assistance to
the media.
Last September, the U.S.
Tennis Association named
its Grand Slam tourna-
ment’s press room the
“Bud Collins U.S. Open Me-
dia Center” to honor him.
In a statement Friday, the
USTA said: “Bud was larger
than life, and his count-
less contributions to the
sport helped to make it
the global success that it is
today. Bud was a mentor
to many, and a friend to
many more. Our sport was
most fortunate to be asso-
ciated with a man of such
character and class. ... He
will be sorely missed by all
of us who loved him — and
by the sport he loved so
dearly.”
Reaction from around the
tennis world poured in.
“Few people have had the
historical significance, the
lasting impact and the un-
qualified love for tennis as
Bud Collins,” Billie Jean King
said. “He was an outstand-
ing journalist, an entertain-
ing broadcaster and as our
historian he never let us for-
get or take for granted the
rich history of our sport.”
