The King is gone.
There will never be another.
There was only one Arnold Palmer.
We lost him on Sunday, his big heart gave out. He is gone but will never be forgotten.
As long as there is golf, there will be Arnold Palmer.
He lived what seems like a very short 87 years but he lived life to the fullest. The was the golfer’s golfer, he was everyman with a golf club. He walked and played with presidents and kings but he was one of us, a common man with a common touch. He was the son of a golf course superintendent. His father, Deacon, taught him to play the game and taught him to respect others.
Arnold Palmer loved people and it showed. And they loved him back.
He was the first golfer to have his own “Army.” He was the first to fly his own plane. He was the first athlete who was sought-after in the business world to endorse scores of products. He impacted his sport more than any other athlete of his generation. He played golf with a swashbuckling style. He won seven major championships and put The Masters on golf’s map by winning in the even years — ’58, ’60, ’62 and ’64.
He invented “the charge” at the 1960 U.S. Open when he came from seven shots back to win, shooting 65 that final round at Cherry Hills.
He had his heart broken by the game, which made him more like the rest of us. He never won the PGA and he lost as many majors as he won.
Palmer convinced the world that the British Open was as important a major as any. He lost by a shot in 1960 at St. Andrews, but went back over and won in ’61 and ’62.
The Senior Tour, now called the Champions Tour, was built around Arnold Palmer.
Palmer founded the Golf Channel back in 1995. He designed more than 300 golf courses and left an incredible legacy of love and philanthropy, including the Arnold Palmer Hospital For Children in Orlando.
He brought professional golf to Orlando, his second home. He spent his summers in Latrobe, his winters at his Bay Hill Club and Lodge, site of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour.
It was the style and flair of Palmer that drew television to the sport. The cameras loved Arnie.
Along with his family, the most important people to Palmer were his fans. He never refused an autograph-seeker. After a round, no matter how good or badly he had played, he would stand in a crowd and sign everything put in front of him, always.
He had a signature like no other. It was splendid, you knew who gave you that autograph.
Even in his later years, he would sit in his office for hours and sign pictures that strangers would send him. He often paid for the return postage. That was Arnold Palmer.
He even has a drink named for him, invented by him — half lemonade, half ice tea — The Arnold Palmer.
I’ll probably go out and have one and think how fortunate I was to write about him during his career. How lucky I was to spend time with him.
Shake hands with Arnold Palmer — that was on the bucket list of a lot of people. I checked that one off as a young man.
Yes, Arnold’s gone and it is tough to fathom. We wanted him to live forever.
He’s gone now, but his name will stay alive in the world of golf.
As it should.
4 Comments
beege
Tom,
Absolutely unique—we overuse the word unique but it applies to him—–period. i was fortunate to get to go to augusta 4 years ago—he was eating lunch on the veranda—i screamed out to him several times to get his attention, I was no more than ten feet away, the cops were getting agitated by me, but i needed to talk to him.—i yelled that this year(2012) was the 50th anniversary of him winning two majors in the same year for the last time—–he put down his sandwich, looked at me and gave me his now familiar “thumbs-up” and that distinctive smile—made my visit complete to the hallowed grounds of augusta national.
i pretended to be arnie as a young teen golfer–who didn’t–he was my golfing hero–love him, long live the King
Tom Edrington
I was lucky to be able to hang out with him. He loved the writers, he treated us like he was one of us, he made things easy, not like these butt-heads today like Tiger who disrespects everyone and loves to berate the press. I have one story that I may choose to tell on Wednesday that is really, really cool.
beege
great, Tom.
here’s another arnie story–that is true to the end. 1968 U,S. Open in my home town of rochester–at oak hill–won by trevino–by 4 over jack and 6 over yancey. the final day normally the final group are the two leaders—not this time. because of crowd and traffic control, the USGA had arnie and jack lewis play after yancey and trevino—amazing i was there to see this. arnie and lewis were way back in the field–but because arnie was so gallery magnetic–they did this, can you imagine doing this today–they would say you are nuts but it is true—that’s why Trevino always says arnie was the first to congratulate him–and if you look at the final standings you would think he finished earlier in the day—-what power and impact he had.
Tom Edrington
Arnold was basically one of those Larger Than Life people, I heard someone call him the John Wayne of Golf……yes, Arnold was amazing, it’s just a shame that more of today’s players do not adhere to his policy that it doesn’t cost anything to be nice to people. Two cool things about Arnold, NICE MAN but a FIERCE COMPETITOR……he proved you can be both.