Remembering Tom Kensler

The Colorado sports scene lost one of its most enthusiastic chroniclers when Tom Kensler retired in 2015 after more than 25 years at The Denver Post. But members of the golf community suffered an even greater loss when the 64-year-old sportswriter died July 22 after complications from a brain aneurysm suffered July 6.

In a career that spanned parts of five decades, Kensler won National Sportswriter and Sportscasters Association best-in-state awards for his work in Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado. Not bad for a guy with a Masters from Ohio State University in business administration and regional planning. A Buckeye by birth and the son of an Air Force pilot, he lived in nine different states and two foreign countries—including Belgium, where he graduated from high school—before returning to Ohio.

After working behind an Albuquerque city planner’s desk he decided he loved sports more than city planning, and of all the sports he covered, Kensler favored golf, he said, “because of its competitive drama and the great study of human conditions relative to nerves and pressure.” It was also a game he enjoyed with his father and with friends on many of golf’s most historic courses. He played off a 14 handicap and once shot an 89 at Augusta the day after the Masters. Kensler covered every significant golf event played in Colorado, and in 2013, the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame rewarded him with its Distinguished Service Award.

Kensler distinguished himself in other areas. He was a talented photographer and loved music as much as he loved golf and all things Ohio State. He annually attended the New Orleans Jazz Festival, where he proposed to his wife, Pam. His easygoing enthusiasm made him friends wherever he went—and the enthusiastic, scrupulous and fair-minded way he plied his craft made him a favorite among his colleagues, his readers and even the people he covered.

This article appears in the Fall 2016 issue of Colorado AvidGolfer. Subscribe today!

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.