Jim Nantz shares the 'impactful' advice on grief and love he got from Arnold Palmer at Augusta National
Al Tielemans
Jim Nantz always knows what to say, whether it’s on the 72nd hole at Augusta National, right after a March Madness buzzer beater or on a podcast with a bereaved sports commentator.
Just last week, the always great NFL analyst Kevin Clark lost his father, Jim, a fellow journalist and historian. Despite the obvious difficulties, Clark followed through on a This Is Football podcast interview with Nantz, and we’re glad he did, because it led to something special.
“I kept an interview with Jim Nantz on the books after my dad’s passing this week because my dad would want me to keep going,” Clark posted. “Once we [started] I found out Jim had done a ton of research into the man my father was and we spent a remarkable episode talking about dads.”
Clark said that after the interview, he and Nantz stayed on Zoom and kept chatting.
“I can’t think of anything that is more fitting of a tribute than to do this,” Clark ended up telling Nantz. “I was doing ESPN Radio Sunday morning and I was just laughing because I had to ask out because my mom had told me the news and all I could hear was him saying, ‘Get back to work, you talk about football for a living, this is not hard!’ He was a historian, he loved what he did and his philosophy was always, if you love what you do, you want to keep doing it.”
The entire conversation is worth listening to, with Nantz discussing what it's like to call Buffalo Bills games to Peyton Manning’s “Omaha craze.” But the most memorable moment had nothing to do with the gridiron, when Nantz shared the memorable advice he once got from Arnold Palmer at Augusta National.
“ One of the best pieces of advice I ever got came from Arnold Palmer in a moment like this,” Nantz, who at the time was thinking of leaving sports to go to CBS This Morning, explained. “I grieved because my dad wasn’t able to consult me on this. He was deep down the road on his battle with Alzheimer’s … I saw Arnold at Augusta, it was one of his last times as a competitor, and he was on the putting green and he looked over, he saw me and he said, 'Hey, come over here.'
I told him it was hard, because my dad wasn’t there to be able to talk it through, Arnold said, ‘You don’t understand, your dad made that decision with you. He was talking the whole time, you just didn’t realize it.’ Arnold had big hands, like a baseball mitt. He reached and he almost knocked me over; he kept hitting me right here in the heart. He says, ‘Jim, he was right here.’
That’s the best advice I can tell you. As you march on, your career, as magical, hugely successful, it’s only gonna get bigger, you got so many roads to conquer and great things to achieve, he’s still going to be right there, just like Arnold said.”
Many around the sports world couldn’t agree more. Scott Van Pelt posted, “He told you the truth.” SVP went on to say that he spoke to Nantz about the Palmer advice and agreed that "those who have walked the road are called on to help those trying to find their way. It’s difficult. But the love never goes away."
What a beautiful way to honor Jim Clark, not to mention another example why the "Is Jim Nantz the GOAT?" debate was settled decades ago.
