The true voice of tennis

bud collins tennis

Martina Navratilova
✔ ‎@Martina
RIP Bud Collins- Dear Bud- you proved you can be a great human, a great humanitarian & a world class reporter at the same time- much love…

Bud Collins .. the gravelly voiced tennis announcer died last Friday.

 

 

Somewhere in a box crammed with old curled up edged photos I have a picture of Bud Collins and me from the French Open sometime in the 1990’s.

 

 

bud collins evert

 

If you don’t follow tennis you most likely have no clue who he was.

So let me share some things.

 

 

 

He loved tennis … and all the people who loved tennis … equally. You could be 10, 20, 30 … beginning your tennis career or be nearing the end … he treated all equally. He treated me, an amateur club tennis player, with a smile, a kind word and a hand on my shoulder … this just after he had finished walking with Steffi Graf.

 

 

He seemed to love people. He was respectful, laughed often and never seemed to avoid anyone at any time. He could have easily ignored me but took a moment to not only take a picture but when I told him one of my best friends had asked if I could get a picture of Bud while at the French Open <my buddy Jim was a big Bud fan> … he wanted to hear more about Jim … and told me as he walked away to be sure I told my friend that Bud was happy he had a fan.

 

 

He embraced uniqueness. His bow ties, his gaudy pants, his big toothed yellow smile … he never seemed to want to be anything but who he was. It was difficult to put my finger on what it was about him that I liked so much when he walked away that day … and now I realize I am not sure I had ever met someone so comfortable in their own skin, their own uniqueness, than Bud.

I wish I had learned that lesson earlier.

 

 

 

Lastly.

clay court-tennis-ball

 

He just seemed like a good man … a good person. I can’t give anyone anything specific on why I felt that way … it just felt that way.

Good people need to be celebrated.

 

 

That’s why I took a moment to say RIP Bud.

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Written by Bruce