R.I.P. Rhonda Glenn
/Rhonda Glenn, a longtime chronicler of the game both in print and in the broadcast booth as well as a fine player, has passed away after a long illness.
Here is USGA Executive Director Mike Davis's email to the staff, where Glenn worked as communications manager for 17 years:
I am deeply saddened to pass along the news that Rhonda Glenn, a longtime member of the Communications staff of the USGA, passed away last night in Florida after a long illness.
Rhonda retired from the USGA in 2013 after 17 years. Although she was a longtime writer, editor and manager of media operations for us, her true legacy is in her role as the preeminent historian of women’s golf. In fact, Rhonda’s Illustrated History of Women’s Golf won our own Herbert Warren Wind Book Award in 1992, and she brought that expertise to the Association when she joined the staff four years later.
Before she joined the USGA, Rhonda had a diverse career in the game that included competing in 11 of our championships, including two U.S. Women’s Opens. She was also the first full-time national network female sportscaster, having worked alongside Chris Berman shortly after the launch of ESPN in 1981, and she was a golf commentator with ABC for 16 years.
What she leaves with us is her catalog of wonderfully told stories, her many contributions to the USGA-PGA African-American Golf History Archive and perhaps most importantly, her role in guiding the process that led to the establishment in 2012 of the Mickey Wright Room in our Museum. A close friend of Miss Wright’s, a four-time U.S. Women’s Open champion, Rhonda was instrumental in the effort to dedicate our first room to a female golfer.
In addition to her many accomplishments, what we will miss most about Rhonda is her generosity of spirit, her passion for the game and the people who play it, as well as her kindness and humility. In many respects, she truly represented all that was best about our game.
Our thoughts are with Rhonda’s family and with her many friends and admirers in the game. She will indeed be missed.
**Statement from ESPN executive vice president, programming and production, John Wildhack on the passing of Rhonda Glenn, the first female SportsCenter anchor:
“All of us at ESPN are deeply saddened by the news of Rhonda Glenn’s passing. As ESPN’s first female anchor, she is an important part of our history and someone who was a pioneer in our business. We extend our deepest sympathies to her family and many friends.”
A link ito a 2013 article from ESPN’s Front Row with Rhonda talking about her time at ESPN.
The AP's obituary notes Glenn's ESPN role in the lede and includes this from Chris Berman:
She once recalled working alongside Chris Berman, noting it was the first time she felt intimidated because of his booming voice.
"Rhonda was one of the kindest people I've ever met in or out of my business," Berman said Friday after his round at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. "She had a smile and a gentle way about her that made everybody feel at home whether they were working with her, as I did in the early days of SportsCenter, or just sitting with and maybe having a bite to eat.
"She loved golf. I think she loved people more than golf, and we know how much she loved golf," he said. "Everything she did was from the heart."
Beth Ann Nichols files a nice remembrance at Golfweek.com, including this:
One of Glenn’s last projects, a true labor of love for 2 1/2 years, was helping Lopez write her autobiography. Tragically, the publisher dropped the book and it hasn’t been published. Lopez, who just two weeks ago visited Glenn in her Summerfield, Fla., home, first met the journalist as a teenager and admired her for doing things the right way.
“Somehow this book has got to be printed for her,” Lopez said through tears.
