A.W. Collins Jr. '51 graduated from Baldwin Wallace University in 1951 and was inducted into the Alumni Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1984. He was honored as a student-athlete, for his involvement on campus and for having one of the most distinctive sportswriting careers in the history of American journalism.

Collins was born on June 17, 1929 in Lima, Ohio.  His family moved to Berea and he attended high school at Berea High School (now Berea-Midpark High School) and graduated in the spring of 1948.

Collins enrolled at BW in the fall of 1948 where his father was a professor. He played tennis at BW from 1948-1951 and helped the Yellow Jackets compile a 28-21 record and .571 winning percentage, including an 11-2 record in 1949 and a 10-3 slate in 1950.

In addition to being an outstanding student and involved on campus, Collins also served as a student-coach on the tennis team as a senior.  The 1949 Grindstone details his exploits as a doubles player. Collins and his partner, Dave Buckey '50, won nine matches that season.

Collins his sportwriting career at BW as a member of the staff of the student newspaper,The Exponent, and the student yearbook, The Grindstone.

Collins' trademark was his donning of bow ties and "loud" pants, which he had custom-made from unique fabrics he collected while traveling for work. According to Bud's website, all of his pants were fashioned by tailor Charlie Davidson in his Andover Shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2006, he made a cameo appearance as himself in the episode "Spellingg Bee"for the television show Psych.

Collins is recognized as one of the world's foremost authorities on tennis.  As a columnist for the Boston Globe and commentator for NBC and ESPN, Collins won numerous national honors, including in 1965 when he received the Marlboro Award from World Tennis magazine for outstanding writing. Collins has written several books, including The Education of a Tennis Player (with Rod Laver in 1971), Evonne! On the Move (with Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1974), and a memoir, My Life With the Pros (1989). He has also produced several tennis encyclopedias, including The Modern Encyclopedia of Tennis, the Bud Collins Tennis Encyclopedia, and Total Tennis.As a sportswriter and caster, Collins' coverage of the Grand Slam of the Wimbledon, the US Open, French Open and Australian Open tournaments was world-renown. In 1994, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

A past president of the U.S. Tennis Writers Assn., Collins was also a member of the Board of Directors of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In 1999, the Sports Editors of the Associated Press bestowed the Red Smith Award, which is America’s most prestigious sportswriting honor. Collins was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 2002. In September 2015, in recognition of his years of service to tennis, the media center at the US Open Tennis Center was named the Bud Collins Media Center.

Collins loved to play tennis and was a member of the winning doubles team that captured the National Indoor Mixed Doubles title (with Janice Hopps) in 1961. In addition, his tennis coaching career did not end at BW. Collins served as the tennis coach at Brandeis University from 1959-1963, and his 1961 squad is still the only undefeated men's tennis team in Brandeis school history.

Bud Collins passed away on March 4, 2016. He was married to photographer Anita Ruthling Klaussen.

This page was updated by DAC Kevin Ruple on January 20, 2017