R.I.P. Rhonda Glenn

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Rhonda Glenn, a longtime chronicler of the game both in print and in the broadcast booth as well as a fine player, has passed away after a long illness.

Here is USGA Executive Director Mike Davis's email to the staff, where Glenn worked as communications manager for 17 years:

I am deeply saddened to pass along the news that Rhonda Glenn, a longtime member of the Communications staff of the USGA, passed away last night in Florida after a long illness.
 
Rhonda retired from the USGA in 2013 after 17 years.  Although she was a longtime writer, editor and manager of media operations for us, her true legacy is in her role as the preeminent historian of women’s golf.  In fact, Rhonda’s Illustrated History of Women’s Golf won our own Herbert Warren Wind Book Award in 1992, and she brought that expertise to the Association when she joined the staff four years later.
 
Before she joined the USGA, Rhonda had a diverse career in the game that included competing in 11 of our championships, including two U.S. Women’s Opens.  She was also the first full-time national network female sportscaster, having worked alongside Chris Berman shortly after the launch of ESPN in 1981, and she was a golf commentator with ABC for 16 years.
 
What she leaves with us is her catalog of wonderfully told stories, her many contributions to the USGA-PGA African-American Golf History Archive and perhaps most importantly, her role in guiding the process that led to the establishment in 2012 of the Mickey Wright Room in our Museum.  A close friend of Miss Wright’s, a four-time U.S. Women’s Open champion, Rhonda was instrumental in the effort to dedicate our first room to a female golfer.
 
In addition to her many accomplishments, what we will miss most about Rhonda is her generosity of spirit, her passion for the game and the people who play it, as well as her kindness and humility.  In many respects, she truly represented all that was best about our game.
 
Our thoughts are with Rhonda’s family and with her many friends and admirers in the game.  She will indeed be missed.