Allison "Al" Danzig (February 27, 1898 – January 27, 1987) was an American

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

who specialized in writing about

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, but also covered

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

, squash, many

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, and rowing. Danzig was the only American sportswriter to extensively cover

real tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...

, the precursor to modern

lawn tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

. Danzig covered every tournament in the Grand Slam, the U.S. Open, the

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

, and the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

, as well as many others. In 1968, Danzig was inducted into the

International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

, becoming the first

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

in the Hall. In an interview shortly before his death, he named Bill Tilden as the greatest player he had covered.

Early life and education

Danzig was born on February 27, 1898 in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

, and grew up in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. His sister, Evelyn Danzig, wrote the music for the hit song "Scarlet Ribbons" in 1949. He attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, where he was co-editor of '' The Cornell Daily Sun'' with E.B. White. Danzig also briefly played football for the

Cornell Big Red The Cornell Big Red is the informal name of the sports and other competitive teams that represent Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The university sponsors 37 varsity sports, and several intramural sports, intramural and club teams. Cornell ...

while weighing just 125-pounds. He graduated from Cornell in 1921.

Career

He joined ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' in 1923, after a stint at the ''

Brooklyn Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

'', and remained there until his retirement in 1968. Before becoming a sportswriter, Danzig wrote obituaries, and was originally planning for a career as a foreign correspondent. Danzig wrote several books, including: ''The Racquet Game'' ( Macmillan 1930), a history of racquet sports; ''The Fireside Book of Tennis'' (

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

1972); and ''Oh, How They Played The Game'' (Macmillan 1971), about the early days of

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

. A critic at ''The New York Times'' called his book ''History of American Football: Its Great Teams, Players and Coaches'' (1956) "without doubt, the most ambitious and best book ever published on the subject of college football." His last book, ''The Winning Gallery'', was a collection of articles and essays about

, published by the United States Court Tennis Association (USCTA). He is credited with coining the term "ace" to describe a serve in which the opposing player fails to get their racket on the ball. He lived most of his adult life in Roslyn Estates, New York, with his wife, two daughters, and one son.

Death

Danzig retired to

Bergen County, New Jersey Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.SquashTalk

International Tennis Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danzig, Allison 1898 births 1987 deaths American sports journalists International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Tennis writers Writers from Albany, New York The New York Times journalists Cornell Big Red football players Brooklyn Eagle people Sportswriters from New York (state) People from Waco, Texas People from North Hempstead, New York Journalists from New York (state) Obituary writers