Arnold Palmer used to drop in on a mass now and then at the basilica at St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe.
Arnie was a Presbyterian. Didn’t matter, he was friends with the bishop there, in fact, Arnie was everyone’s friend.
It was a sellout, overflow crowd that packed St. Vincent’s on Tuesday to honor Palmer, to talk about him, remember him and cherish him one last time at the public memorial for the man everyone called “The King.”
Last Thursday they flew his ashes on his jet around Latrobe one last time. It was a gray-sky day, overcast.
But when his ashes were scattered near the 10th tee at Latrobe Country Club, where wife Winnie’s went after her death, a beautiful rainbow took over the sky — Arnold’s rainbow.
Vince Gill, who played for Arnie’s 80th birthday, sang at the service.
Jack Nicklaus spoke, so did Annika Sorenstam. PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem was there. Arnold’s old friend Charlie Meacham spoke as did Arnie’s grandson — Sam Saunders.
Palmer will always be remembered as the peoples’s golfer, the standard, the hero’s hero.
Now he is God’s Golf Professional.
