Arthur Collins

Arthur Worth “Bud” Collins was an American tennis player. Born in Lima, Ohio on July 17, 1929, he grew up in Berea, only 50 yards away from the tennis courts of Baldwin-Wallace College, where his father was a coach to several sports and an athletic director.

He was a frat man during his college years in Baldwin-Wallace College, being a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. After his service in the U.S. Army, Collins attended the graduate school in Boston University in 1954. Beginning 1959 and five years thereafter, he served as coach for tennis at Brandeis University, Abbie Hoffman being one of those whom he mentored. In 1961, he won the U.S. Indoors Championship in the mixed doubles division with Janet Hopps. He was also a finalist in 1975 in the French Senior doubles with Jack Crawford.

Collins, however, became more popular as a sports columnist and commentator, specially known for his commentaries in tennis. He was very knowledgeable in tennis and became a very respected and esteemed tennis journalist.

He wrote as a sports journalist for the “Boston Herald” after he attended Boston University. He transferred to the “Boston Globe” in 1963 and in the same year, he debuted as a tennis sports commentator for television for WGBH, Boston's Public Broadcasting Service outlet. From 1968 to 1972, he worked for the network station CBS for the U.S. In 1972, he signed a contract with NBC for the network’s Wimbledon coverage. In 2007, after 35 years at NBC, the company chose not to renew his contract. However, he still continued to write for the Boston Global. In the same year, he was hired by ESPN2 to work on the network’s coverage of the Wimbledon, French and Australian Opens.

Collins was inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1994 for his contributions in tennis.

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