Wind, Herbert Warren 1916–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born August 11, 1916, in Brockton, MA; died of pneumonia, May 30, 2005, in Bedford, MA. Writer. A regular contributor to Sports Illustrated and the New Yorker, Wind was a famous sports—especially golf—reporter. A 1937 graduate of Yale University, where he wrote about jazz and sports for the school paper, he earned his master's degree in English literature at Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1939. Already a golf fan when Wind met essayist and golf reporter Bernard Darwin at Cambridge, he resolved after this meeting that he would become a golf writer as well. World War II delayed his plans, as Wind performed his military service while stationed in China. After the war, he was hired by the New Yorker, where he remained for the rest of his career, with the exception of the years 1954 to 1960, when he was on the staff of Sports Illustrated. While Wind wrote eloquently on such sports as tennis, polo, hockey, baseball, and basketball, it was golf that remained his main love. The majority of his articles appeared in the New Yorker's "Sporting Scene" section, and he continued to write for the magazine until his 1989 retirement. Wind was admired for his straightforward but vivid writing style, and is often remembered for describing the challenging eleventh through thirteenth holes at the Augusta National course as "the Amen corner." In addition to his magazine work, Wind published numerous books on sport, including The Story of American Golf (1948; third edition, 1975), The Gilded Age of Sport (1961), Game, Set, and Match: The Tennis Boom of the 1960s and '70s (1979), and Following Through (1985). He was also the editor of the "Classics of Golf" reprint series from 1983 to 1996. For his contributions to the promotion of the sport, Wind was presented with a lifetime achievement award from the Professional Golfers Association in 1992, and the Bob Jones Award from the United States Golf Association in 1995.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2005, p. B11.

New York Times, June 1, 2005, p. C19.

Times (London, England), June 16, 2005, p. 67.

Washington Post, June 3, 2005, p. B6.