Legendary golf writer and author Dan Jenkins died on Thursday, TCU Director of Athletics Jeremiah Donati confirmed to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He was 89.
Friends close to Jenkins said his condition had recently taken a turn for the worse.
“The message on my tombstone will be, ‘I knew this would happen,’” the writer once said.
The Fort Worth, Texas, native who attended Texas Christian University, covered over 230 major championships over his 71-year career that started in 1948 when he was hired by the Fort Worth Press as a high school student.
Jenkins went on to work for the Dallas Times Herald before joining Sports Illustrated, where he spent over 25 years, writing about golf and college football. Four of Jenkins’ pieces were included in Sports Illustrated’s “60 Years, 60 Iconic Stories” tribute to the magazine’s most famous stories published in 2014, according to SI.com. He later joined the editorial staff at Golf Digest.
Jenkins is also a member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame and is one of three writers to have been inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. The University of Texas named an award after him, creating the Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting.
He went to write a number of highly-acclaimed books, including the memoir “His Ownself,” and best-sellers such as “Semi-Tough,” ″Baja Oklahoma,” “Dead Solid Perfect,” and “Sports Makes You Type Faster,” which was published last year.
Jenkins is survived by his wife, June, daughter Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins, and sons Danny and Marty.