Tim Rosaforte: Remembering Way Back When He Had Hair

He turned out to be the best of us.

Tim Rosaforte spent his entire adult working life as a writer, author, and finally, a television guy.

The year was 1977.  The Tampa Tribune was battling it out on the daily basis with the St. Petersburg Times for newspaper superiority in the Tampa Bay region.

The Tribune had a little sister — the afternoon Tampa Times.

We sort of laughed at the Tampa Times.  We made it a point to get the most breaking news.  Most sporting events were at night, we’d have ’em covered in the morning paper.  The Times basically got the leftovers.

It was a Golden Age of newspapers — that’s where people got their info.

Over on “the other side” of our building was the Times newsroom.  We heard they hired a new guy and I was curious to meet him.  Sitting at a desk was a young kid, fresh out of the University of Rhode Island — big guy, broad shoulders and a full head of curly hair.  Let’s repeat that — a full head of curly hair.  It wasn’t short either.  He stood out.

Guy’s name was Tim Rosaforte.  He was given the high school sports beat.  I had already “graduated” from the prep to what I thought was the big time — Bobby Bowden’s FSU teams and, of course, golf on all levels — local, state and professional.

Rosaforte was sorta quiet, not boisterous like a lot of writers.

Kept an eye on him and knew he was in Tampa for a short time.  Sure enough, by 1982 the Tribune shut down the Times and hired the best writers, the rest were left dangling in the wind.  Rosaforte was smart enough to see he was on a sinking ship and bolted for Fort Lauderdale in 1981, a year before the sinking of The Times.  He stayed there at the Sun Sentinel until ’87 then went a few miles north up I-95 and joined The Palm Beach Post.  He stayed there seven years, went to Sports Illustrated in ’94 then got his life’s best gig — Golf Digest and Golf World in 1996.

Tim got the call from The Golf Channel in 2007 and for 11 years, he was the go-to guy for inside information on any big name player on the PGA Tour.  He was always a supporter of Tiger Woods, even when Tiger got his butt in a big bind.

Most know Rosaforte as “The Bald Guy” — the Telly Savalas  of television golf.  By the way,  quick fact, his given first name is “James.”

He’s won more awards than you can count — that number is around 30, including the Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism from the PGA of America in 2014.  He’s written three best-selling books — Raising The Bar:  The Championship Years Of Tiger Woods;  Heartbreak Hill:  The Anatomy Of A Ryder Cup and Tiger Woods:  The Making Of A Champion.

Tim also served as President of The Golf Writers Association Of America — a job most of us never aspired to — a lot of work for no pay.

Rosaforte’s cell phone is a Who’s Who of golf.  More players return his texts and calls than anyone in the media.

Not sure retirement is something that suits this guy.

Rest assured, he won’t be hanging around playing golf every day.

Tim Rosaforte is up to something, something new.

Count on it.  Like Phil Mickelson — he needs “the action.”