Known for his colorful pants, the renowned reporter also had a loud laptop. Muralist Marcelo Lavallen customized Collins’ Apple PowerBook G4 computer with an original work titled “Guardian Angel.”
Bud has a great flair in his writing. He believes in having fun, and that tennis is a game and should be fun. We felt that the two most outstanding symbols of Bud’s career are his storied trousers—each unique, each made from fabric bought or given to him in some foreign land—and his writing machine. In the old days his Olivetti typewriter was covered with travel stickers.
Bud had always written his name on his computer, but one time he asked our friend from Argentina, Marcelo, to paint something on it. And you all know how colorful Bud is—he wanted color! There resulted a series of beautiful computers.
Bud liked the initial image so much that every time he got a new computer, Marcelo would paint a new picture. We never had any input; it was all Marcelo’s creativity. When I insisted that Bud switch to Macs if he wanted my help, the apple became part of the image. The computer we gave the Hall of Fame has an angel holding an apple, “to protect and to look after Bud,” as Marcelo told us.
—Anita Ruthling Klaussen, Bud Collins’ wife