Al Laney (1978)

Al Laney was in the first rank of American sports writers. Although he was best known for his tennis and golf writing, he covered nearly all sports at one time or another. It could be argued that more golfers in the Met Area got their first exposure to golf from the writings of Al Laney in the New York Herald Tribune than any other source. What is beyond dispute is that through his integrity and marvelous writing style, Laney has given more people the correct exposure to the game than anyone.

He began his career in journalism in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida and later moved on to the Dallas Dispatch and Minneapolis News before serving in the Army during WWI. Later, he spent time writing in Europe, covering golf and tennis events for the New York Herald Tribune.

Despite his international reputation – or because of it – Laney worked just as hard at covering local Met Area events as he did the Masters. No one knew more local golfers and no one made more visits to local clubs than he. He made his readers aware of golf in their area and thus set a standard that forced other newspapers to re-evaluate their local coverage.

Al covered golf on the Tribune for more than 40 years until the paper closed down in 1968. His collective efforts during that span formed a body of work that stands as a major contribution to the growth of golf.