It's been a hard couple of weeks in the sports activities international. This week we misplaced university basketball legends Jerry Tarkanian (of UNLV) and Dean Smith (of UNC-Chapel Hill), and now we need to add ladies's golfing pioneer Rhonda Glenn to the listing.
For those of you who somehow don't know who she was, Rhonda Glenn became the first ever full-time national female sportscaster for any TV network when she went to work for ESPN way back in 1981. She was co-anchor back then with Chris Berman (who, btw, is T7 at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with partner J.J. Henry). Click this link and you can read some of Boomer's memories of their days together.
And that's just one of the things she was known for.
- She was an amateur golfer who played in five US Women's Amateur Championships and two US Women's Opens.
- She was a golf commentator for nearly two decades on ABC starting back in 1978, even predating her time at ESPN.
- She wrote several books on golf, including The Illustrated History of Women’s Golf which won the USGA International Book Award back in 1992.
- She was on the USGA Communications Board for 17 years. GC also noted that "She was instrumental in guiding the establishment of the Mickey Wright Room in 2012, the first room dedicated to a woman at the USGA Museum."
- She was a correspondent for Golf World, and last year she won the William D. Richardson Award for outstanding contributions to the game from the Golf Writers Association of America.
The photo above is from the GC post, and that smile is probably how I'll remember her. I can't ever remember seeing her on TV when she didn't have a huge smile on her face. And apparently, based on the things I've read announcing her passing, that's what most of her friends will remember as well.
That's not a bad legacy to leave behind.
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