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The world needs to raise a glass of iced tea and lemonade as a toast.
Golf legend Arnold Palmer, who was set to have heart surgery on Monday at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, passed away on Sunday due to cardiac complications. He was 87.
In the words of PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem:
“There is no way to adequately express the immense sense of loss that we all feel with this news. It is not an exaggeration to say there would be no modern-day PGA Tour without Arnold Palmer. There would be no PGA Tour Champions without Arnold Palmer. There would be no Golf Channel without Arnold Palmer. … The fact that his popularity never waned more than a quarter-century after his last competitive victory speaks volumes to the man, the icon and the legendary figure he was.”
Many took to social media to express their sadness and send condolences to Palmer’s loved ones. Two of the most notable were rivals and lifelong friends, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
Other big names from both past and present took the time to pay their respects after hearing the news of Palmer’s passing.
From Wake Forest University, Palmer’s alma mater:
Even President Barack Obama paid tribute to the golf legend.
The career of “The King” – the moniker which became synonymous with Palmer’s influence on the sport – included 62 PGA TOUR wins. Of those victories, seven were major championships, including victories on the Senior Tour and abroad for a total of 92 victories.
Born on September 10th, 1929 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He was introduced to the game of golf by his father, Milfred Jerome “Deacon” Palmer, who was the head greenskeeper at Latrobe Country Club.
After a few years of helping his father maintain the golf course, Palmer would attend Wake Forest University on a golf scholarship. Before completing his time in school, he went on to join the Coast Guard, where he served for three years.
Ar the age of 24, Palmer went on to win the 1954 USGA Amateur Championship, thrusting him into the national spotlight. It was immediately after this that Palmer opted to play professionally. He wasted no time, notching the first victory of his professional career at the 1955 Canadian Open in his rookie season. It was only the beginning of a spectacular rise towards superstardom.
1954 was also a year of great personal significance for Palmer, as he married Winifred “Winnie” Walzer, who remained by his side for 45 years until her death in 1999.
By 1967, Palmer had become the first PGA TOUR member to reach $1 million in career earnings.
Although it did play the primary role in his success, he was not just simply known for his golf game. His charm and good looks allowed him to create a presence that the game of golf had never seen. His stylish looks landed him on GQ Magazine’s “50 Most Stylish Men of the Past 50 Years” and Esquire’s “75 Best-Dressed Men of All Time”.
His swing resembled that of a corkscrew, much different than the pure swing of Ben Hogan, who was dominating the game at the start of Palmer’s career, but the most visible impact he had as a golfer was to note that he had a following like no other. His fanbase, officially known as “Arnie’s Army”, would crowd the green everywhere Palmer went, and the young man from Pennsylvania essentially made golf a mainstream affair.
Palmer retired from competitive play in 2006. His final Masters Tournament appearance came in 2004, his 50th such appearance on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National.
His influence did not end as just a player. Palmer was quite the entrepreneur as well – going full circle, he eventually returned to his hometown and acquired the Latrobe Country Club. He also owned Bay Hill Club and Lodge, the host of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. In 1995, Palmer co-founded the Golf Channel, the first cable channel to provide round-the-clock golf coverage.
Touched by the ways in which “Arnie’s Army” was talked about affectionately in the media and began to motivate him during tournaments, Palmer formally created a charitable foundation adopting that name, and today, Arnie’s Army continues to work on behalf of several causes, including the March of Dimes and children’s education and health.
Perhaps one of Arnold and Winnie Palmer’s most important legacies will be the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies, which opened in 2004 and 2006 respectively. When invited to tour the pediatrics wing of the Orlando Regional Medical Center back in the mid-1980s, Palmer reacted by saying “We can do better than this — we should do better than this — for the children of our community.”
As for those who did not quite know him as a golfer, they knew him for his signature drink: equal parts of iced tea and lemonade. This offering was immortalized in a classic ESPN Sportscenter commercial featuring Scott van Pelt and Stuart Scott.
On top of all this, Palmer was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, the nation’s top recognition for civilians. He was also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009 for his “service to the Nation in promoting excellence and good sportsmanship in golf.”
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Palmer is survived by Kit, his second wife; his daughters, Amy Saunders and Peggy Bryan; six grandchildren; his brother, Jerry; and his sisters, Lois Tilly and Sandra Sarni.
From a more personal perspective, I never had the opportunity to meet Arnold Palmer. In 2012, while in community college, I received the Arnold Palmer Scholarship, which was established by the Bob Hope Desert Classic Golf Tournament (now known as the CareerBuilder Challenge) in 1994. The scholarship helped provide the opportunity to continue my studies and help ease the financial hardship that is college. For that, one cannot help but be eternally grateful, and was an indirect way my life was touched by Palmer.
Palmer lived in La Quinta, CA during the winter, making a great impact in the Coachella Valley. Like many others, the loss of “The King” is one that hurts deeply for this community.
As a larger than life icon, Palmer transcended his own expectations. The young boy from a small, rural town in Pennsylvania changed the game of golf like no other. “I would like to be remembered for bringing golf to a worldwide audience,” Palmer said in an interview on CNN in 2012. “Players today have no boundaries.”
In his 87 years of life, Palmer showed us that he had no boundaries, and in the process, he left a permanent imprint not just on the golfing world, but on the landscape of sports in general.