What He Means To Me

By Dave Shedloski
Photo by Jerry Cooke/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images September 14, 2009

A professional athlete, it has been said, dies twice, his initial demise arriving on the hour his competitive career ceases. What then to make of Arnold Palmer, who turned 80 years old on Sept. 10 but remains an ageless standard bearer for his sport, a Methuselah in a wool sweater?

Palmer's prime ended in the Richard Nixon era, his last PGA Tour victory coming in 1973. His final major triumph came almost a decade earlier, in the 1964 Masters. He now is one of the tournament's honorary starters, and his only official role in the game is as wise onlooker at his eponymous event at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando. Yet even today Palmer seems thoroughly contemporary.

"Arnold Palmer is timeless, that's all there is to it," Rocco Mediate says.

To grow old is a blessing, but it is also a curse, because, inevitably, you stop and look around and realize friends and familiar faces are gone. But Palmer, with his magnetism, congeniality and charm, still connects with people, regardless of the difference in age or background. Undoubtedly, he has never struggled to connect with his peers, who can thank the King for shepherding golf into the modern era and lining their silk fairways with money trees.

As Tom Watson says, "Frank Beard said that we owe 80 cents of every dollar we earn to Arnold. That's true."

Of course, Palmer isn't just timeless, but priceless. Fellow professionals from yesterday and today recognize that. Here they share their thoughts:

Jack Nicklaus: "Arnold brought a lot more to the game than just his game. What I mean by that is there's no question about his record and his ability to play the game. He was very, very good at that. But he obviously brought a lot more. He was there at the right time with television, and his flair and his charisma were things that were really very, very important to the game of golf at that time."

Davis Love III: "Guys like Arnold and President Bush, No. 41, and people that you've looked up to for a long, long time, you know they're not going to be around forever, so when they hit a milestone, you have to stop and think about how much you appreciate them. Arnold has always been a leader who stood out from the rest, and for a lot of different reasons. He always said the right thing, did the right thing. He is as solid a human being as you could ever find in any walk of life."

Boo Weekley: "I love that comment that he's made about when you sign an autograph, sign it so people can read it. I think it might have been [my] first year out in '02. I used to just scribble my name, but now I take the time and the effort to sit there and write my name. Arnold, and Jack, too, they understood that the people pay our bills. They always gave back. I try to do the same, not that I can ever do all they did."

In big moments (below, after winning the 1964 Masters) or small (above, signing a woman's cast during the 1962 U.S. Open), Palmer captivated fans with his charisma. Photo: Robert Huntzinger/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

Loren Roberts: "I've always thought that young guys who come out of Q school or the Nationwide Tour or wherever … rookies ought to have to play a couple of rounds with Arnold Palmer just to see how he treats everyone on the golf course, how he treats the fans, how he conducts himself. It should be a prerequisite to play with Arnold and learn a few things."

Ben Crenshaw: "I met Arnold in 1970. He was playing in the PGA at Southern Hills CC that year. He came to the Texas Open Junior tournament at Wichita Falls CC to give an exhibition, and I played nine holes with him and two others. He just couldn't have been nicer. I was 18, and I was just in awe of him. Made an impression on me, though, too, because he was just so genuine. He understood what an impact he could have on younger people, and he took that responsibility and set an example."

Padraig Harrington: "I was in a restaurant where somebody ordered an Arnold Palmer [a drink of lemonade and iced tea that Palmer made popular]. That says it all—that you can go into a random restaurant and order a drink named after a professional golfer. Even ­Tiger hasn't got there yet."

Jim Furyk: "You can always go back in time—Bobby Jones, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan—and go through great upon great, but I think he was the pioneer. Tiger might have made golf cooler, but Arnold was probably the first cool golfer—a good-looking guy, the shirtsleeves showing the big arms, go for broke. Everyone rooted for him. I think that our sport would be a lot different and look a lot different without him."