Bud Collins
Bud Collins was a sports broadcaster best known for his work as a pioneering tennis journalist and TV analyst, covering Wimbledon for 35 years at NBC, from 1972 to 2007. He also wrote for The Boston Globe for 50 years and was notable in the journalistic community for helping to pave the way for print journalists to become broadcasters. Collins was also known for his bright, eccentric wardrobe choices and fun-loving on-air attitude.
He got his start when he was still in high school, writing about sports for the weekly newspaper Enterprise, in Berea, Ohio. While attending Baldwin-Wallace University and writing for his college paper, he decided to travel to London on his own dime to cover the 1948 Summer Olympics, where he also reported on the progress of classmate Harrison Dillard, an Olympic hurdler.
After college, Collins served in the U.S. Army, then left Berea to attend graduate school at Boston University. He was later hired as a copy boy at The Boston Herald, and then landed a staff reporter position, covering boxing.
Bud Collins was a sports broadcaster best known for his work as a pioneering tennis journalist and TV analyst, covering Wimbledon for 35 years at NBC, from 1972 to 2007. He also wrote for The Boston Globe for 50 years and was notable in the journalistic community for helping to pave the way for print journalists to become broadcasters. Collins was also known for his bright, eccentric wardrobe choices and fun-loving on-air attitude.
He got his start when he was still in high school, writing about sports for the weekly newspaper Enterprise, in Berea, Ohio. While attending Baldwin-Wallace University and writing for his college paper, he decided to travel to London on his own dime to cover the 1948 Summer Olympics, where he also reported on the progress of classmate Harrison Dillard, an Olympic hurdler.
After college, Collins served in the U.S. Army, then left Berea to attend graduate school at Boston University. He was later hired as a copy boy at The Boston Herald, and then landed a staff reporter position, covering boxing.
In 1963, he moved to the Globe where he covered sports, had a popular travel column, and also wrote on more serious subject matters such as the Vietnam War. In 1968, he sat down with Arthur Ashe for an hour-long interview which aired on PBS. It led to a job offer from CBS, allowing Collins to cover the first five U.S. Opens for that network.
In 1972, he transitioned to NBC where he covered Wimbledon and worked alongside Dick Enberg. And in 2007, he made his final move to ESPN and the Tennis Channel.
In 1992, Collins also hosted the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show from New York on the USA Network, and he appeared as himself on a 2006 episode of Psych. Additionally, he wrote The Education of a Tennis Player, with Rod Laver; Evonne on the Move, with Evonne Goolagong; and his own memoir, 1989’s My Life With the Pros.
In August of 2015, the U.S. Tennis Association announced it would name the pressroom at Arthur Ashe Stadium after Collins.
He died March 4, 2016, in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was 86.
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