Bud Collins, a tennis authority who made his mark in both print and TV died Friday at his Brookline home, the Boston Globe reported.
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Collins was beloved for his cheerful and enthusiastic coverage of a sport he covered for nearly 50 years. “Amusing but smart. Sometimes earnestly, other times lightheartedly”.
Bud Collins earned his spot in the Tennis Hall of Fame with his pen and personality, not a raquet. He himself was an encyclopedia.
Collins was a sportswriter for the Boston Globe in the early 1960s and became an analyst for CBS and NBC beginning in 1968 as one of the first major writers to transition to television. “But it was his years of tennis columns and commentary that defined his career”. He worked for the Peacock Network for 35 years.
In 2015, the United States Tennis Association named the media center at its U.S. Open site in Collins’ honour. “Bud was larger than life, and his countless contributions to the sport helped to make it the global success that it is today. Friend … I, like many, will miss you terribly”, Hall of Fame player Chris Evert wrote on Twitter.
Colleagues say he knew everything there is to know about tennis. He then went on to form first-name basis relationships with the greats of the game. The fabric came from his extensive world travels over the decades.
Arthur “Bud” Collins was born on June 17, 1929, in Lima, Ohio, and went to Baldwin-Wallace College, followed by graduate school at Boston University.
The Boston Globe ran a tribute to Collins on Friday that included an excerpt from his first prominent appearance in the paper, a December 1963 article from Adelaide, Australia, where he was on assignment covering the Davis Cup.
Collins had largely been away from tennis since tearing tendons in his left leg in a fall at his hotel room while attending the 2011 U.S. Open in NY.
“Sister Serena is back”.
“Few people have had the historical significance, the lasting impact and the unqualified love for tennis as Bud Collins”, said tennis champ Billie Jean King.
The New York Times wrote that “while he focused on tennis, he mused about anything that caught his eye” and covered combat in the Vietnam War.
Colorful with his words and his attire, larger-than-life, passionate, and a fountain of tennis knowledge.
He is survived by his wife, Anita Ruthling Klaussen; his, daughter, Suzanna Mathews; his son, Rob Lacy; six stepchildren from previous marriages; and 11 grandchildren.
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No cause of death was released, but in his reflection, Mike Lupica described a fall Collins had months ago that led to a series of painful complications.
