Penn, journalism and the sports world lost one of its great figures on Sunday when Frank Dolson died at the age of 73.
Dolson, a former sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian and a 1954 Wharton grad, wrote for Sports Illustrated, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Evening Bulletin. He was known for his passion for amateur sports.
Dolson maintained a tremendous connection to his alma mater throughout the years as he rejoiced in the competition of the Ivy League, the Big 5 and the Penn Relays. Last April, Dolson donated $1.2 million to endow the Penn Relays director position.
"Frank was the best proponent of the Relays in prose," said Dave Johnson, who currently holds that endowed chair. "It was certainly one of Frank's most beloved events."
Dolson began covering the Relays in the '50s as a reporter for The Daily Pennsylvanian. As a professional, he would write at least "one or two glowing stories about the Relays each year - about what the events meant to the athletes, the city and to the University," Johnson said.
Dolson's love of amateur athletics was best represented by his appreciation of the Penn Relays. He was interested in the people involved in sports and their character more than the consequences of winning and losing.
"He was always looking past the glory of winning and looked at the heart of people," said Decker Uhlhorn, Penn's senior advisor to the athletic director.
Uhlhorn's relationship with Dolson dates back to 1968, when Dolson wrote a story about Uhlhorn's experience on the Penn men's basketball team. The story focused on Uhlhorn's varying roles, from starter to bench player, on an up-and-down Quakers squad.
Uhlhorn insists that Dolson maintained his connection to Penn over the years not due to its level of athletic skill but because of the people involved. "It was his affection for the quality of people at Penn that maintained his ties to the institution."
His friends make up a who's who list of Penn and Philadelphia sports. His love of amateur athletics was inspired by Ken Doherty, the former director of Penn Relays. Dolson admired former Penn basketball coach Fran Dunphy and former Penn football coach and Eagles general manager Harry Gamble, who was a close friend. He also wrote the biography for Jim Bunning, Phillies pitcher and U.S. Senator.
After retiring from the Inquirer, Dolson got to live a lifelong dream by becoming a special assistant to New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Dolson loved baseball, and, being a native New Yorker, loved the Yankees. He spent two to three weeks each year traveling to minor-league games, even writing a book about it: Beating the Bushes: Life in the Minor Leagues.
His writing was loved by many in the city. When the Inquirer hired him, he was Philadelphia's youngest columnist. Perhaps it was because he found that sports weren't just about the competition.
"He was not interested in the bright lights; he was interested in people as people," Uhlhorn said. "If you loved what you were doing, that was all that mattered to him."
