He was a great golfer, yes, but a better man. He gave us a great example of how to behave, how to treat each other with respect. It seems to be very difficult for a lot of successful athletes to mingle with the commoners. But it was no problem for Arnie.
Perhaps that’s because he had a modest upbringing. He was the son of a green superintendent — not a spoiled country club kid. He made big money playing golf, but he didn’t think he was any better than anyone else.
He made much more money off the golf course than on it. He was a super salesman for numerous products because the public could sense his sincerity.
Many professional golfers were robots when Arnie joined the professional ranks, but Arnie was a natural entertainer. People loved his unique style, his aggressive go-for-broke mentality.
He was charismatic. That’s why he was able to do for golf what Babe Ruth did for baseball many years earlier. His performances and personality created a market for golf on television.
I covered 15 Masters Tournaments, but none until after Arnie had won his four — in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964. So I never saw him win a major championship in person, but he was a crowd favorite until he died.
I was in the Augusta National media room in April of 2000 when he announced he would no longer play in the Masters. He was 72 and had shot 89 in the first round. “Tomorrow will be it,” he said. “I don’t want to get a letter.” (Earlier that year two or three former champions were informed not to bring their clubs to Augusta anymore.)
As far as I know, Palmer made four appearances in Dayton. He played one-day exhibitions at Meadowbrook Country Club on April 14, 1963, and at Twin Base Golf Club on May 17, 1967.
Bill Kumle, now a teaching pro at Rollandia, was a 19-year-old shop boy at Twin Base when he caddied for Palmer at Twin Base. Arnie put on an exhibition for military personnel at Wright-Patterson AFB and went to the base hospital to visit troops injured in Viet Nam.
Palmer played in the 1969 PGA Championship at NCR Country Club but exited after the first round when he suffered a hip injury and struggled to an 82. There might not have been a tournament that year if Arnie and Jack Nicklaus hadn’t convinced the tour golfers to play in the PGA after they had separated from the organization.
Although he was no longer competing regularly, Palmer was persuaded to play in the 2005 U.S. Senior Open at NCR because the tournament needed a drawing card after Jack Nicklaus, the honorary chairman, retired unexpectedly from tournament golf.
Palmer, a pilot who had logged 18,000 hours in the air and loved aviation, was enticed to come to Dayton when NCR corporate officials told him he could stay at the Wright brothers’ Hawthorne Hill mansion in Oakwood.
Accompanied by his second wife, Kit, and two guests, Arnie was served dinner at Hawthorne Hill on Wednesday night. After Thursday’s round they toured the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
“That was fun,” he said. “I suggest everyone go to see the museum if they haven’t.”
The he continued to live in Latrobe, Pa., Arnie spent the winters at his Bay Hill Golf Club in Orlando, Fla. He seemed to love playing a round of golf with Bay Hill members as much as his friends on the PGA Tour. Carl Bidwell, the 1993 Dayton City Men’s Amateur Match Play champion, had a surprise meeting with Palmer at Bay Hill in October of 1994.
Bidwell, who was 59, and a business associate had started to play on Bay Hill’s nine-hole course when The King invited them to play with him and a friend as a foursome.
After they played four or five holes, Palmer, who was 65, suggested they play dollar skins with carry-overs. “What are you going to say to Arnold Palmer? No?” Bidwell said.
Bidwell won three skins before Palmer had to leave to participate in a conference call. Palmer wasn’t around when Bidwell finished playing but he was in the restaurant early the next morning when Bidwell came through on his way to the pro shop.
“Hey Carl!” Palmer said. “I owe you $3.”
“I don’t want your three dollars,” Bidwell replied. “I’m paying you anyway,” Palmer countered.
Bidwell pulled a felt tip pin out of his pocket and had Arnie autograph one of the dollars. The next morning Arnie sat down at the table next to Bidwell and his friend and they talked for 10 or 15 minutes.
“He’s just an ordinary, average, super guy … and a fine gentleman,” Bidwell said.
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