Tennis icon Bud Collins dies at 86

— -- Bud Collins, who wrote his way into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, died on Friday. He was 86.

Famous for his deep love of the game, and for his colorful and sometimes outlandish mode of dress, Collins was a writer for The Boston Globe and, beginning in 1968, an analyst for CBS and NBC. He helped popularize an under-the-radar sport for the emerging baby boomer generation.

In 2015, the United States Tennis Association named the sprawling media center at its US Open site in his honor. The inscription on the plaque reads: "Journalist, Commentator, Historian, Mentor, Friend."

"Through his writing, his television work, his constant promotion of the game, no one did more to grow the sport of tennis than Bud Collins," said Vince Doria, who worked closely with Collins for more than 20 years, first as sports editor at The Boston Globe and later as senior vice president for news at ESPN. "The world will always view him in that light. But those who knew him best will remember that no one had a better friend than Bud Collins. And no one had more friends than Bud Collins."

Collins introduced the intricacies of the simple yet complex game, its heroes and the unrelenting rivalries they produced: Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert.

"He had a passion for the game and the players that was unmatched," Evert said. "He brought a bright light and an oasis to the often pressure-filled and ego-oriented world of professional tennis. I would relax around his warmth and wit.

"He was family."

Collins' journalistic reach went beyond tennis. He covered boxing as well and was one of the earlier chroniclers of Muhammad Ali.

Collins wore his heart on his sleeve -- and in those signature vibrant, colorful pants and zany bow ties, his uncommon passion for the sport was revealed.

He was also a media trailblazer. Collins was among the first major sportswriters to transition to television, opening a path for Lesley Visser, Peter Gammons and Chris Mortensen among many, many others. He is enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame and winner of the nation's highest sports writing honor, the Red Smith Award.

He was a man, seemingly, from a different time. His classic prose came from the era of Damon Runyon and Grantland Rice. In his television musings, he would sometimes reference a fictitious "Uncle Studley" and a character named "Fingers Fortesque."

His epic -- "The Bud Collins History of Tennis" -- is the history of the sport.

Collins always called himself a "hacker," but he could play the game, too. He was a nimble athlete who won the U.S. Indoor mixed doubles championship (with Janet Hopps) in 1961, and was a finalist in the French Senior doubles (with Jack Crawford) in 1975. Collins was the tennis coach for five years at Brandeis University, where one of his players was future social activist Abbie Hoffman.

For years, he hosted a media tournament at the US Open in New York.

Collins is survived by his wife, the photographer Anita Ruthling Klaussen, who in recent years helped keep him connected to the sport he cherished, a handful of definitive books and, of course, generations of tennis fans who took their lead from the colorful character with the crazy pants.