USTWA MEMBERSHIP

 “Put it to them briefly so they will read it; clearly so they will appreciate it; picturesquely so they will remember it; and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light."  
-Joseph Pulitzer, with timeless advice to writers

USTWA is very proud of its members--past and present!

• View current members
• USTWA Historical Directory of Members
• Perhaps you've read some of our members' books? View USTWA Member Books.

CRITERIA FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE USTWA

Regular Members

1.   Members must be compensated with money (not favors or barter) for editorial or photographic work. 

2.   Members must have tennis articles or photos published regularly (minimum of 7 per year) by a recognized and legitimate print publication or Web site (not simply your own blog and not a PR-driven house organ), or be the author of a tennis-themed book.

3.   Applications for writers must include five published writing samples.

4.   Writing must be of a professional quality.

Associate Members

1.   Must regularly perform professional work in public relations, marketing, or tournament communications.

**The Membership Committee will make the final determination on all membership applications.**

Member Benefits - click here

Please note: While membership in the USTWA doesn’t guarantee that your credential applications will be accepted by tournaments, your active membership connotes that you are a member in good standing.
*Regular Members only

If there is a benefit you would like that does not appear here, please share your thoughts via this form.

2010-2011 OFFICERS

Art Spander, Robin Bateman, Cindy Cantrell, Tom Kosinski, Ann LoPrinzi and Jim Martz; President Emeritus Liza Horan

HONORARY MEMBERS

Past and present USTWA members who have been awarded Honorary Member status are:

Active:  Russ Adams, Dave Anderson, John Barrett, Bud Collins, Frank Deford, Bob Larson.

Inactive: James Pryor Allen (deceased), Dave Anderson, Rex Bellamy (deceased), Arthur John Daley (deceased), Allison Danzig (deceased),  Sarah Palfrey Danzig (deceased), Frank Deford, Will Grimsley (deceased), Murray Janoff, Al Laney (deceased), Roy McKelvie (deceased), Laurie Pignon, Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith (deceased), Lance Tingay (deceased), Ted Tinling (deceased), Herbert Warren Wind (deceased), Harold Zimman (deceased).

Bios on Honorary Members Named in 2010

The USTWA Board voted to award “Honorary Member” status to James Pryor Allen, the George Washington of the USTWA. Allen, who worked for the now-defunct New York Sun, started trying to form an association for tennis writers in 1928. Allen’s dream came to fruition in 1938, when he and eight other Founding Fathers got the association chartered. It was known then as the Lawn Tennis Writers Association of America. “Prior to the war, J.P. Allen did everything. He was president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, and he even swept the floor, if necessary,” recalled Murray Janoff, the last surviving Founding Father, in an interview that appears on the USTWA website. Allen served as the USTWA’s first president until his death in 1948.

The USTWA Board voted to award “Honorary Member” status to 1970s-'80s member Frank Deford, one of the top tennis writers in history and one of the top tennis writers in history. A longtime sportswriter for Sports Illustrated, Deford was honored as "Sportswriter of the Year" by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association six times − in 1982 and 1984-88. The American Journalism Review has likewise cited him as the nation’s finest sportswriter, and twice he was voted Magazine Writer of The Year by the Washington Journalism Review. The Sporting News has described Deford as “the most influential sports voice among members of the print media,” and the magazine GQ  has called him, simply, “the world’s greatest sportswriter.”  Deford also authored or co-wrote six highly regarded tennis books: Arthur Ashe: Portrait in Motion, Big Bill Tilden: The Triumphs and the Tragedy, Billie Jean, The Game: My 40 Years in Tennis, Passing Shots: Pam Shriver on Tour, and The Spy in the Deuce Court, a comic tennis novel.

Dave Anderson, of The New York Times, in 1981 became the second sportswriter to win the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. He has also received the Red Smith Award (considered the highest accolade in sportswriting) from the Associated Press Sports Editors. He was inducted into the National Sports Writers and Sportscasters Hall of Fame in 1990, and in 2005, he received the Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism.

Arthur John Daley’s sports reporting won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1956. He was the second sportswriter to be honored. In the first 115 years of The New York Times, there were only two sports columnists. Arthur Daley was the second of the two, taking over the column, “Sports of the Times,” from John Kieran in 1942.

Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith wrote for the Milwaukee Sentinel, St. Louis Journal, Philadelphia Record, New York Herald Tribune, and The New York Times.  In 1976, Smith was the first sportswriter to win the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. He also received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976. Furthermore, the Associated Press awarded him the first Red Smith Award for "outstanding contributions to sports journalism," and this award now is considered the highest accolade in sportswriting.