Al Laney

Albert 'Al' Gillis Laney (January 11, 1896 – January 31, 1988) was an American sportswriter who specialized in tennis and golf but also covered baseball, boxing and American football.[1]

Al Laney
Born
Albert Gillis Laney

(1896-01-11)January 11, 1896
Pensacola, Florida
DiedJanuary 31, 1988(1988-01-31) (aged 92)
Spring Valley, New York
Occupationjournalist
Years active1920s–1966
EmployerNew York Evening Mail
New York Herald Tribune
AwardsElmer Ferguson Memorial Award (1984)
International Tennis Hall of Fame (1979)

Laney was born on January 11, 1896[2] in Pensacola, Florida, the son of an attorney and one of six children.[3] He served as a lieutenant in World War I and saw action at The Battle of the Argonne Forest.[3]

After World War I Laney became a correspondent at the New York Evening Mail. In 1924 he went to Europe and joined the Paris Herald, as the Paris edition of the New York Herald was known.[4] During his period in Europe he also started working for the New York Herald Tribune. In the summer months he would travel between Paris and England to cover the Wimbledon tennis tournament, the Davis Cup and the British golf tournaments. In the mid-1930s he returned to the United States to join the Tribune's sports staff. He retired when the Tribune ceased publication in 1966.[3]

In 1947 Laney published an account of the Paris Herald newspaper titled Paris Herald: The Incredible Newspaper and in 1968 he published Covering the Court; a 50-Year Love Affair With the Game of Tennis, a memoir on his experience as a tennis correspondent from World War I through to the start of the Open era.[3][5]

Laney was regarded as one of the leading American tennis journalists of the first half of the 20th century together with Allison Danzig of The New York Times. In 1979, Laney was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, for his contributions to tennis.[4][6] He received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in 1984 and is a member of the media section of the Hockey Hall of Fame.[7]

References
  1. Collins, Bud (2010). The Bud Collins History of Tennis (2nd ed.). [New York]: New Chapter Press. p. 599. ISBN 978-0942257700.
  2. Orodenker, Richard (1996). Twentieth Century American Sportswriters. Gale Research Inc. p. 179. ISBN 978-0810399341.
  3. Holtzman, Jerome, ed. (1995). No Cheering in the Press Box (1st rev. ed.). New York: H. Holt. pp. 81–97. ISBN 978-0805038248.
  4. "Hall of Famers – Al Laney". www.tennisfame.com. International Tennis Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2014-10-07.
  5. W.J. Hurlow (January 23, 1948). "Under The Reading Lamp". Ottawa Citizen.
  6. "Six Inducted Into Tennis Hall of Fame". The Times-News. AP. June 21, 1979. p. 14.
  7. "Legends of Hockey – Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award Winners". hhof.com. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
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