His exuberance for the game and the florid spews of language his exuberance often ignited (not to mention the clothes) made it too easy for casual observers of the game to dismiss him but you could never overlook him, and you ignored him at your peril because he truly was fountain of knowledge about the game and its players and its history. In the late 70s and the 80s, when I came full throttle to the sport (as a spectator), he was as much the face of tennis for the American audience as was 'bad boy' national hero John McEnroe. I remember many a "Breakfast at Wimbledon" (NBC's Sunday morning broadcasts of the men's finals) with him in my Oakland apartment, eating steak and eggs and biscuits instead of strawberries and cream (in those days I also didn't have a taste for champagne yet, either).

RIP, Bud Collins.

Photo: Gill Allen | Associated Press | Wimbledon 1993

Bud Collings, Who Covered Tennis With Authority and Flash, Dies at 86

Tags: tennis, gone