Arnie - Dead at 87

[warren]

I sure am gonna miss his smile and good nature.
A great run for a great guy.
That he was internationally known by only his first name speaks more eloquently than anything I can write.

 

[hugodrax]

I've met the man on a few occasions. Latrobe is only about 40 minutes away and he was very active. There was no difference between his public persona and who he truly was. A prince of a man. Not many were ever like him.

 

[dottiewarden]

A true icon to his sport. RIP

 

[pagan]

Not many were ever like him.

In a class all his own

 

[mso489]

The guy looked happy, played golf like he was happy if very focused and competitive. Talent is always impressive, but when the talented also look like they are throughly enjoying themselves, it makes the spectators feel close to them. We all think we'd be that happy if we could play a game that well, but he was special.

 

[philobeddoe]

He was a true gentleman and will be missed.

 

[gphenry]

I have had several opportunities to go to Bay Hill in the last number of years. Mr. Palmer was revered by his staff and everybody at his course. Unfortunately the one time he was on the property when I was he was having lunch with Jim Furyk. He gave a smile and friendly greeting when walking by but I did not get the chance to meet him personally. A genuine gentleman.

 

[pappymac]

He was a good man.

He enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1950 as a Yeoman and continued to serve until 1953. Though a Yeoman, Palmer participated in many matches as the Coast Guard allowed him to continue to play golf. He returned to Wake Forest and in 1954 he won the U.S. Amateur Championship. His professional playing garnered him four Master’s Championships, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1964, also the 1960 U.S. Open and the 1961 and ’62 British Open. He is the first golfer to earn over one million dollars in prize tournament money. He also won the 1981 and 1982 U.S. Senior Open.

- from a U.S. Coast Guard Website

 

[gphenry]

I met a man at the driving range who I had a discussion with when we saw we both had Bay Hill Guest tags on our golf bags. He met Arnie at a Coast Guard charitable golf tournament that was hosted at Bay Hill. Arnie remained involved with the CG throughout his life.

 

[fnord]

Okay. Here's the downer - De moritus nil nisi - post.
Arnold Palmer was the Ambassador of Golf and was easily the man who started opening up the purses at PGA events.
He made bank early on with endorsements and most older smokers with grey hair remember his incredibly entertaining Quaker Oil commercials alongside his vintage tractor.
On the other hand, read "Arnie & Jack: Palmer, Nicklaus, and Golf's Greatest Rivalry" and just wonder how much Arnie's infidelities hurt his wife, Winny, during their 45 year marriage. He was a notorious adulterer and, if they had an open marriage, then good for them. But, given the time, I'm going to guess not.
My old man was a plank holder in Arnie's Army and I still do dumb things with a 3 iron, thirty yards away from a Midwest summer baked/burned green - just like Arnie did but without his panache. I adored Mr. Palmer, but he treated his first wife like shit.
Let's don't elevate him to sainthood just yet.
Fnord

 

[mso489]

A TV obit showed a number of clips of him driving off the tee. No more Mr. Nice guy. He went at it like he was killing an anaconda. Great to see. Fierce. Apparently he liked a drink and was great company. Being a good natured guy doesn't mean you're a chump. Hail Arnie.

 

[warren]

I would suggest this isn't the place to bring up the real or imagined failings of a deceased person a thread such as this is not the place. fnord, if you really have a compelling interest and curiosity in the Palmers' private relationship a new thread would probably the correct way to do so.

 

[fnord]

Perhaps so, Warren, but my solitary post would've been lost in the daily sturm und drang around here.
That said, I truly despise the rush to sainthood when a well known personage goes belly up and before all the facts see the light of day.
Lord knows I'm not here to pick a fight with you. You're articulate, knowledgeable, respectfully glib and, easily, one of the best writers on this forum. Crossing spoken and/or written words with you is tantamount to a rapier stroke across the neck and I'll pass for now, thank you. I'm not up for a suicide run this evening.
Mr. Palmer was a great golfer. A phenomenal golfer. And a superb spokesman for several businesses because he was so beloved.
But I was taught, way back when, that when you married somebody it was for keeps and you married that person to be true to them for the rest of your life or theirs. Consequently, there's nothing "imagined" about it, Warren. By Palmer's own admission, he chose another path and the plaster shoes were filled.
Mr. Palmer was an amazingly gifted athlete and I hope I've made my admiration for him abundantly clear. Sadly, he was lacking in the morals department and that saddens me.
Respectfully,
Fnord

 

[emsjunky]

I work in Latrobe on the ambulance service here. He was a huge influence on the town and hospital here, and seemed to be a very genuinely kind person. Wish I could have met him before he passed.

 

[warren]

First and foremost, I apologize for my use of imagined. It was simply a too well cloaked observation of some past threads where correspondents attack a dead person with word of mouth observations. I was hopeful that a post intended to eulogize and not disparage would not be sidetracked into a historical dissection of that life.
frnord: In my lifetime I have not known of any person who is/was without at least one human frailty. By and large Arnie had many, many more positives than negatives. His golfing skills were probably the least of his positive attributes, important only as the means to his humanitarian largess. I simply prefer to look at the positives of the life he loved and accept that, indeed, he was just a man. But, a man with a tremendous love of life and concern for others.
I hope people will see any good that you and I may have accomplished in our lives and choose to overlook our failings when adding up the positives and negatives. I hope the sum of my actions will paint me in a positive light. I see Arnie as a man who could acknowledge his failings but, never lost his love for life and concern for others.
Arnie, to me, was simply a man who overcame any failings and produced a life worth, in total, remembering fondly and with not a bit of reverential awe. And, I hold few in such esteem.

 

[mso489]

Don't know any sainthood in the balance here. I hope people don't rake over the details of my flaws when I'm gone. We are what we are, and most hope to do better tomorrow, or even for the rest of today. Mother Teresa was rather cold and abrasive in her Nobel Peace Prize speech, probably irritated by all the pomp and finery at the event, and she still ended up being actually sainted. Arnie was no saint, but we like him for other reasons.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

I hope people don't rake over the details of my flaws when I'm gone.

Right?
At my funeral: "Tom was a swell guy - did a lot of good for a lot of people, but his credit was terrible!"
What purpose does that serve?

 

[fnord]

My goodness.
A civilized disagreement among board acquaintances: folks I've PM'ed and truly admire. Nobody dropped an eff bomb, violated a safe space, triggered something to hell and gone or threatened to walk off in a huff.
I just wish we all lived closer so we could enjoy a glass and a bowl together.
Except you, Pipesmokingtom, But, if you go to ground before me and our accounts are square, I'll swear you walked on water. Many, many times. Otherwise, the gloves come off. :wink:
This is just another reason why I've been coming here daily for five years.
Fnord

 

[pipesmokingtom]

I've just seen these types of threads before and the wanton interruption of posts like that have always baffled me. Folks in solidarity, posting their thoughts on someone who has recently passed and then someone has to walk in to the circle and fart.
There's a time for a 30K-foot, inclusive view of ALL the positives and negatives, perhaps, but during a eulogy seems like an odd choice.
That being said, I know nothing about Arnold Palmer, outside of him being an iconic golfer, so I don't REALLY care. He probably doesn't either.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

You guys almost gave me a heart attack, I thought people were saying Schwarzenegger died!
My condolences to the golfing community.