Arthur F. Rense (1917 – 1990) was a

sports journalist Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a par ...

for the ''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California, after the unrelated ''Los Angeles Times'', and the flagship newspaper of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado ...

'' and the director of

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

for Howard R. Hughes'

Summa Corporation Summa Corporation was a holding company for the business interests of Howard Hughes after he sold the tool division of Hughes Tool Company in 1972. Its holdings included casino hotels, aviation businesses, and television channels. After Hughes's d ...

Biography

Arthur Frederick Rense was born 20 May 1917 in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, to Austrian-Italian immigrant parents, Joseph Rensi and his wife, the former Rosalia Luther. He had six siblings, including five brothers: Louis, Rudolph, Andrew, Frank, William; and a sister, Rose. After graduating from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

with a degree in English, Rense served in the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

during World War II.

Career

Rense moved to Los Angeles after World War II and joined the original

, one of four downtown Los Angeles newspapers (calling itself "the only Democratic newspaper west of the Rockies") as a

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 ...

. He covered all sports, from young UCLA basketball coach John Wooden's Bruins to the then-new Los Angeles Rams football team, including their 1951 world championship. In 1954, after the Daily News folded, he joined

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

as a reporter, and in 1957 published and edited a magazine group that included ''"The Art Rense Sports Book: Professional Football"'', the first magazine devoted exclusively to

professional football Professional football may refer to: *Professionalism in association football *Professional gridiron football *National Football League *Canadian Football League *Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-emine ...

. Between 1959 and 1974 Rense handled

for the

Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and military, defense company based in Southern California. Founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr., it merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell D ...

, Missiles and Space division (pre-

McDonnell-Douglas McDonnell Douglas Corporation was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1 ...

). In the mid-1970s Rense became

specialist for

Harvey Mudd College Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California, focused on science and engineering. It is part of the Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds and resources. The college enrolled 902 undergra ...

, and later collaborated with football player

Tom Harmon Thomas Dudley Harmon (September 28, 1919 – March 15, 1990), nicknamed "Old 98", was an American football player, military pilot, actor, and sports broadcaster. Harmon played college football as a halfback for the Michigan Wolverines from ...

on ''Tom Harmon's Football Today'' in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. After that, Rense worked on public relations for hotels in

owned by the

, mainly the

Desert Inn The Desert Inn, also known as the D.I., was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, which operated from April 24, 1950, to August 28, 2000. Designed by architect Hugh Taylor and interior design by Jac Lessman, it was the ...

. He was a lifelong poet by avocation.

Marriages

Rense was married three times: * (Mary, last name unknown), of Cleveland, Ohio. * Madelon Shearer. The couple had three sons, Kirk,

Jeff Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes ...

, and

Rip To rip is the act of tearing an object. Rip may also refer to: Places * Nioro du Rip, a town in the southern Kaolack Region of Senegal * 7711 Říp, an asteroid * Rip Bridge, New South Wales Australia * Říp, a mountain in the Czech Republic ...

. * Patricia Pashong, whom he married twice, firstly in 1957 (divorced March 1974) and secondly on 22 December 1987. She became known as

Paige Rense Paige Rense, also known as Paige Rense Noland (May 4, 1929 – January 1, 2021) was an American writer and editor who served as editor-in-chief of ''Architectural Digest'' magazine from 1975 until 2010. She founded the Arthur Rense Prize poetry ...

, editor-in-chief of ''

Architectural Digest ''Architectural Digest'' (stylized in all caps) is an American monthly magazine founded in 1920. Its principal subjects are interior design and landscaping, rather than pure external architecture. The magazine is published by Condé Nast ...

'' magazine.

Death

Arthur F. Rense died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

at the age of 74 on 28 December 1990 in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Arthur Rense Prize

In 1998, Rense's widow, Paige, established the Arthur Rense Prize in poetry, presented by the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

. The award, given triennially, provides $20,000 to an exceptional poet.

Winners

*1999 — James McMichael *2002 —

B.H. Fairchild B.H. Fairchild (born 1942) is an American poet and former college professor. His most recent book is ''An Ordinary Life'' ( W.W. Norton, 2023), and his poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including ''The New Yorker'', '' The Pa ...

*2005 —

Daniel Hoffman Daniel Gerard Hoffman (April 3, 1923 – March 30, 2013) was an American poet, essayist, and academic. He was appointed the twenty-second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1973. Early life and education Hoffman wa ...

*2008 —

Hayden Carruth Hayden Carruth (August 3, 1921 – September 29, 2008) was an American poet, literary critic and anthologist. He taught at Syracuse University. Life Hayden Carruth was born in Waterbury, Connecticut and grew up in Woodbury, Connecticut. He grad ...

*2011 —

David Wagoner David Russell Wagoner (June 5, 1926 – December 18, 2021) was an American poet, novelist, and educator. Biography David Russell Wagoner was born on June 5, 1926, in Massillon, Ohio. Raised in Whiting, Indiana, from the age of seven, Wagoner at ...

*2014 —

Ellen Bryant Voigt Ellen Bryant Voigt (born May 9, 1943) is an American poet. She served as the Poet Laureate of Vermont. Biography Voigt was born May 9, 1943, in Danville, Virginia. She grew up in Chatham, Virginia, graduated from Converse College, and received an ...

*2017 —

August Kleinzahler August Kleinzahler (born December 10, 1949) is an American poet. Life and career Until he was 11, he went to school in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where he grew up. He then commuted to the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, graduating in 1967. He wrote p ...

*2020 —

Mary Ruefle Mary Ruefle (born 1952) is an American poet, essayist, and professor. She has published many collections of poetry, the most recent of which, ''Dunce'' (Wave Books, 2019), was longlisted for the National Book Award in Poetry and a finalist for th ...

*2023 —

Shane McCrae Shane McCrae (born September 22, 1975, Portland, Oregon) is an American poet, and is currently Poetry Editor of ''Image''. McCrae was the recipient of a 2011 Whiting Award, and in 2012 his collection ''Mule'' was a finalist for the Kate Tufts Di ...

References

External links

American Academy of Arts and Letters
American Academy of Arts and Letters {{DEFAULTSORT:Rense, Arthur 1917 births 1990 deaths Military personnel from Cleveland Writers from Cleveland Sportswriters from California Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers Deaths from cancer in Nevada Deaths from leukemia in the United States