Daniel Thomas Jenkins (December 2, 1928 – March 7, 2019) was an American author and sportswriter who often wrote for ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

''. He was also a high-standard amateur golfer who played college golf at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples ...

Early life

Jenkins was born in 1928 and raised in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, where he attended R. L. Paschal High School and

(TCU), where he played on the varsity

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

team.

Career

Jenkins worked for many publications including the ''

Fort Worth Press Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accordin ...

'', ''

Dallas Times Herald The ''Dallas Times Herald'', founded in 1888 by a merger of the ''Dallas Times'' and the ''Dallas Herald'', was once one of two major daily newspapers serving the Dallas, Texas (USA) area. It won three Pulitzer Prizes, all for photography, and t ...

'', ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'', and ''

'', where among other things he covered the 1966, 1967, 1969, and 1971 versions of the college football Game of the Century. In 1985, he retired from ''Sports Illustrated'' and began writing books full-time, although he maintained a monthly column in ''

Golf Digest ''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit under its Warner Bros. Discovery Golf division. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competiti ...

'' magazine.

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program ...

called Jenkins "the quintessential ''Sports Illustrated'' writer" and "the best sportswriter in America." Jenkins wrote numerous works and over 500 articles for ''Sports Illustrated''. In 1972, Jenkins wrote his first novel, '' Semi-Tough''. His daughter

Sally Jenkins Sally Jenkins (born October 22, 1960) is an American sports columnist and feature writer for ''The Washington Post'', and author. She was previously a senior writer for ''Sports Illustrated''. She has won the AP Sports Columnist of the Year Awa ...

is a sports columnist for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. In December 2014, Jenkins published an article in ''

'' titled "My (Fake) interview with Tiger; or how it plays out in my mind." In the piece, which featured images of a

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

lookalike in golfing gear, Jenkins mocks Woods's reputation in an imaginary interview with the athlete. Though the piece was clearly marked as parody, the champion golfer requested an apology from the magazine. Woods stated that the piece "fails as parody, and is really more like a grudge-fueled piece of character assassination."

Awards and honors

*2012 PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing *2012

World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site honors both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 go ...

, Lifetime Achievement Category *2013

Red Smith Award The Red Smith Award is awarded by the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) organization for outstanding contributions to sports journalism Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and com ...

*2015

Old Tom Morris Award The Old Tom Morris Award is the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America's most prestigious honor. It is presented each year to an individual who "through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf has helped to mold the welfare ...

*2017 Ring Lardner Award for Excellence in Sports Journalism

Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Dan Jenkins
on ''

'' *
Podcast with Dan Jenkins in September, 2018
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Dan American male golfers American memoirists American sportswriters TCU Horned Frogs men's golfers World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Red Smith Award recipients Sportspeople from Fort Worth, Texas Writers from Texas 1928 births 2019 deaths