He Was Known as the King
Golf legend Arnold Palmer has passed away at age 87
He was known as the King. His followers were Arnie’s Army. He took a sleepy, country club sport and turned it into a TV staple.
Arnold Palmer was a master showman. He had to be, to take a sport like golf and make it popular for the sports and non-sports fans alike.
He had that undeniable something.
But first, he had great golf talent. For his time, he could hit it a mile. And he did it with charisma and energy and a joyfulness.
His heyday was the 1950s and 1960s, but his success led the way for a Jack Nicklaus to come along. And then a Tom Watson. And then still later, a Tiger Woods.
They can all trace the success of their sport to Arnold Palmer, who passed away Sunday, about two weeks past his 87th birthday.
He won 62 times on the PGA Tour, including Masters titles in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964; the U.S. Open in 1960; and British Open titles in 1961 and 1962. The fourth major, the PGA Championship, always eluded him. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.
“Arnold meant everything to golf. Are you kidding me?” Tiger Woods told USA TODAY. “I mean, without his charisma, without his personality in conjunction with TV — it was just the perfect symbiotic growth. You finally had someone who had this charisma, and they’re capturing it on TV for the very first time. Everyone got hooked to the game of golf via TV because of Arnold.”
Palmer was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009, two of the nation’s highest civilian honors. Each time after the ceremony, he would go outside the White House and the Capitol and sign autographs for hundreds of people.
“Just one of the classiest, most genuine men I ever met,” NBC’s Al Michaels said on Sunday Night Football when he announced Palmer’s death.
Golf led Palmer into many other arenas, where he was highly successful too. He was a businessman and a trailblazing advertising spokesman, a well-regarded golf course designer, the host of his own golf tournament at Bay Hill in Florida, and a very laudable philanthropist.
He even had a drink named after him, making a joke about it in a TV ad: “I’ll have an Arnold Palmer!”
He was friends with presidents — Dwight Eisenhower was a very close pal — and he was accessible to youth.
“Arnold was the epitome of a superstar,” fellow Hall of Famer Raymond Floyd told USA TODAY. “He set the standard for how superstars in every sport ought to be, in the way he has always signed autographs, in the way he has always made time for everyone. On the golf course, all I ever saw was a mass of people. He was able to focus in on everyone in the gallery individually.
“It wasn’t fake.”
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