Bud Collins (1929--2016)

They say dress for the job you want, not the job you have. But for Arthur Worth Collins Jr.—Bud, as he was presciently nicknamed as a boy—those two were one and the same. No one could spin yarns like Bud. And as a journalist, he covered everyone and everything, from Ted Williams to the Vietnam War. Still, his real passion was tennis. Bud, who died last Friday at age 86, covered the sport like no one before or since: Funny but smart. Sometimes earnestly, other times lightheartedly. He embraced the sport's history, so much so that he wrote several tennis encyclopedias. Last September the USTA christened its media center at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Bud's honor, including a plaque that reads, "Journalist, Commentator, Historian, Mentor, Friend." It was Bud's room. The rest of us were just fortunate to be in his presence, lucky to call him a colleague.

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URI SCHANKER/WIREIMAGE (TRIBUTE)