Marion Dunn

Ever since the early 1950’s, golf in Utah has been blessed with good press and one of the most often and prominent by-lines under the headlines has been that of Marion Dunn.

When Marion Dunn first joined the Deseret News sports staff in 1948, golf was a minor sport. Few played the game, and it warranted little press coverage. At that time there were only three 18-hole golf courses in Utah. Forty-two years later, when he retired as sports editor of The Daily Herald, golf had grown from obscurity to prominence. Now there are nearly 90 golf courses and it is estimated that 20 percent of Utah’s population plays the game, the second highest participation rate in the country. That growth is due in large measure to public awareness through the news media.

Marion Dunn, and other members of the fourth estate, recognized the greatness of the game before it became popular and gave it public prominence long before it was justified.

Marion Dunn has walked the fairways with every prominent golfer who ever played the game in Utah and has become a first name friend with most of them. He has been a recording witness to almost every golfing event of significance in Utah. He has sensed and reported the drama and the beauty of the game and tournament golfers loved him. They each felt he was genuinely pulling for them—-and he was.

Marion Dunn was born on November 20, 1922 in Manassa, Colorado. He grew up in Bingham and graduated from the University of Utah in 1950. He served in the Army from 1943 to 1946.

His reporting career has included stints at The Deseret News, The Tribune-Telegram, the Salt Lake Tribune, United Press, and The Daily Herald.

He is married to Hertha Sirstins and they have three children, Eileen Zanonini, Gary, and Bob.