Following praise by Billie Jean King and other tennis luminaries at the early Sunday ceremony, Collins, attired in trademark loud pants and bow tie, quipped. "I'm at a loss for words. It's sacrilegious."
The legendary tennis broadcaster and BW Athletics Hall of Fame inductee began his sportswriting career at BW's student newspaper, The Exponent. After graduation, Collins started writing for the Boston Herald and later the Boston Globe before going on to do tennis commentary for major broadcast news networks such as NBC and ESPN. He has also written several books including Bud Collins' Encyclopedia of Tennis and The Education of a Tennis Player.
Photo Credit: Ben Solomon for The New York Times |
New York Newsday wrote that Collins' "spirited work rendered him the sport's premier historian, conscience and connoisseur of fun," while a very personal New York Daily News column by his protege, Mike Lupica, was titled, "Bud Collins the best friend tennis ever had."
The new commemorative plaque at the center reads, “Journalist, Commentator, Historian, Mentor, Friend.” At BW, we'd add one more to that list: YJ4L! Congratulations Bud!