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 a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

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

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...

Early life

Jenkins was born in 1928 and raised in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, where he attended R. L. Paschal High School and Texas Christian University, where he played on the varsity

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

team.

Career

Jenkins worked for many publications, including the '' Fort Worth Press'', '' Dallas Times Herald'', ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

'', and ''Sports Illustrated'', 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 TNT Sports unit. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competitive golf. The magazine started by John F. ...

''.

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...

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 ''Semi-Tough'' is a 1977 American sports comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie and starring Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Jill Clayburgh, Robert Preston, Lotte Lenya, and Bert Convy. It is set in the world of American professional fo ...

''. In December 2014, Jenkins published an article in ''Golf Digest'' 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 List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

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."

Family

Jenkins's daughter Sally Jenkins is a sports columnist for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''.

Awards and honors

*1993 Texas Golf Hall of Fame, Distinguished Service Category *2012 PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing *2012

World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame was, until recently, located at World Golf Village between Jacksonville, Florida and St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States. It is unusual amongst sports halls of fame in that a single site honored both men ...

, Lifetime Achievement Category *2013 Red Smith Award *2015 Old Tom Morris Award *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 TCU Horned Frogs men's golfers American golf writers Golfers from Texas World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Writers from Fort Worth, Texas Sportswriters from Texas Sports Illustrated people 1928 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American sportsmen