Roy Exum: Arnold Palmer’s Greatness

  • Tuesday, September 27, 2016
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

This is hardly meant to be flippant but I’d be willing to bet I’ve been in the presence of more great people than anyone you know. I’ve never ranked them, or ever dared to wonder who was the greatest, such as Muhammad Ali or Elvis Presley, but there are two traits that those who reach the highest pinnacle have in common. First, not a one of them was any good at what made them famous the first day they started. It takes years of practice, learning from losing, saying dumb things, staying humble, apologizing, running in cold rain at 4 a.m. and much more before anyone’s greatness ever evolves. It has never just happened; there is always a process before one “becomes” great.

The second trait, this far more subtle, is that the greatest people, the world over, are also the nicest, kindest, most “real” human beings to ever walk the earth. The public can spot a phony within the opening hours and any Hall of Fame has its share of losers by their life’s end. Yet in the United States of America, we adore our greatest winners and, in my heart and mind, Arnold Palmer was the quintessential example of a king.

Since Arnold Palmer golf clubs were made alongside First Flights down on Tremont Street back in the day, I first met him about 50 years ago. He was having a bowl of soup in the Men’s Grill at the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club with his delightful club designer, the late J.B. Burkett, and Lew Oehmig had arranged for me to have about 15 minutes with him. That turned into 12 holes of golf and, after I’d hit the ball about a 100 times, he made me feel like we were tied for the lead at St. Andrews.

What’s worse, we were paired together seven or eight more times, him being the best and I perennially at the very end of the opposite scale. Our conversations were wonderful and occasionally Arnie gave me a peek at what made him so gloriously popular with the medalists and duffers alike. For example, everyone always thought “Arnie’s Army” was the group of hundreds who would follow his every round but, no, they just hung onto the name.

The real truth was that when Palmer played in his first Masters in the mid-50s, interest in golf was moderate – television spawned its popularity. Palmer, when he would begin the season at Augusta, never forgot his “blue collar” roots, and after practicing or playing, would retire to a quiet bar and knock off a few cocktails with the local boys.

He was great, telling stories and jokes, many on himself. Most of the guys were soldiers at Augusta’s Fort Gordon and they would go watch him play. Viola, the media quickly called his uniformed followers “Arnie’s Army.” With Arnie’s grin and smile and ever-ready willingness to sign a signature, his popularity was unequaled.

About the same time, Jack Nicklaus proved he had game and the story was that for years Nicklaus resented the media’s crush on Palmer. Jack, who played at Ohio State, was abrasive and cold compared to the easy-going Palmer, who learned his genteel ways as a student at his beloved Wake Forest. Don’t ever think that to a Southerner in Augusta there isn’t a marked difference between Wake Forest and The Ohio State University. That’s like cheering for Confederates or fleas.

Arnie came to Chattanooga quite a bit. J.B. Burkett designed his clubs and, of course, he reveled in the company of two of Chattanooga’s best golfers and most wonderful characters, Lew Oehmig and Ira Templeton. I bet Arnie told me 20 times Lew could have been sensational on the Tour, Ira too, except Lew’s father wouldn’t allow it because there were no fat checks back then.

For that matter, when Palmer married his first wife of 45 years, Winnie, her father refused to attend the wedding because he was certain Arnold couldn’t provide for her. In 2014 Forbes Magazine reported that Arnie’s endorsements and outside income brought in $45 million that year alone.

But in 49 years on the Tour, Arnold Palmer made a total of $1,784.497. Compare that with the check Matt Every got for winning at Bay Hill this spring -- $1,134,000. Bay Hill was Arnie’s course in Orlando and almost up until the time of his death Palmer walked his dog and spoke to everyone who was playing. The dog’s name: “Mulligan.”

There was a wonderful list of “86 Reasons to Celebrate The King” in the Orlando Sentinel last Sept. 9 – the date of his last birthday – and writer David Whitley included some fabulous morsels:

* --You can order an “Arnold Palmer” at restaurants around the world and they’ll bring you a drink of half-iced tea and half-lemonade.

* -- He made hitching your pants cool.

* -- The Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies delivered 13,800 newborns in 2014.

* -- When arch-villain Goldfinger was cheating while playing golf with James Bond in the 1964 film, Sean Connery’s caddie said, “If that’s his original ball, I’m Arnold Palmer.”

* -- He bought the golf course that wouldn’t let him go swimming as a kid.

* -- After a lifetime of signing autographs for free, he finally charged for his signature during the 1994 Bay Hill tournament when his grandchildren told him business was slow at their lemonade stand. Palmer agreed to sign for anybody who would buy a $1.50 glass. The kids made a quick $50 before they ran out of lemonaid.

* -- The Arnold Palmer Medical Center (in Orlando) is the largest facility in the United States dedicated to children and women.

* -- Palmer took up flying to rid himself of fear of flying and still holds the round-the-world record in a Lear Jet – 57 hours, 25 minutes, 25 seconds. (It would have been faster but in Sri Lanka he wanted to ride an elephant during a refueling stop.

* -- Just two rooms in the house he grew up in (Latrobe, Pa.) had heat.

* -- He is the only athlete in the world to have been awarded both the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

* -- He often cried during the National Anthem.

* -- He finished second in 10 Majors.

* -- More than 13 streets are named after him.

* -- The United States has had 44 presidents but just two kings – Elvis and Arnie.

royexum@aol.com

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