Collins (Arthur “Bud” Jr.) is born in Lima, Ohio.

Bud Collins graduates from Baldwin College, serves in the U.S. Army, and comes to Boston to attend graduate school at Boston University. He works part-time at the Boston Herald, wins the U.S. indoor mixed-doubles tennis championship, and coaches at Brandeis University. He goes to work as a sportswriter for the Boston Globe in 1963 and becomes the first print journalist to become a television commentator, first for WGBH and then for network stations. The best-known and a well-loved ambassador for the game of tennis, Collins covers 44 Wimbledon championships. He dies in Brookline on March 4, 2016.