Arnold Palmer, 1929-2016, september 30, 2016

     “To place a president of the United States in proper historical perspective might take several generations, but to evaluate the impact of Arnold Palmer on golf we need not wait. He has meant more to the game than anyone, ever, in every conceivable way.”  
     -- Nick Seitz, editor at large, Golf Digest

     Arnold Palmer, the champion golfer whose full-bore style of play, thrilling tournament victories, and magnetic personality inspired an American golf boom, attracted a following known as Arnie’s Army, and made him one of the most popular athletes in the world, died on Sunday evening in Pittsburgh. He was 87.  
     -- New York Times

     His immense talent on the golf course was undeniable; it helped him win more than 90 professional events during his career, including four Masters titles, two British Opens, and a U.S. Open championship. But Palmer’s charisma stemmed from the way the Western Pennsylvania native connected with almost everyone he met, with an authenticity that truly made him a champion of the people. It was that likeability that made him a legend.  
     -- Forbes

     “No one has had a greater impact on those who play our great sport or who are touched by it. It has been said many times over in so many ways, but beyond his immense talent, Arnold transcended our sport with an extraordinarily appealing personality and genuineness that connected with millions, truly making him a champion of the people.”  
     -- Tim Finchem, commissioner, PGA Tour

     Palmer was a golf icon, but his reach spread far beyond just the sports community. Palmer was one of the first true golf celebrities and was among the first golfers to take advantage of his popularity by launching businesses tied to his name.  
     -- CBS Sports

     He was a part owner of the Pebble Beach Resort in California and principal owner of the Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, the site of the annual Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament on the PGA Tour.  
     -- New York Times

     Along with his incredible golf career, Palmer became one of the top golf course architects in the country with Palmer Course Designs launching in 1972.  
     -- CBS Sports

     PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said without Palmer there would be no modern-day PGA Tour, no senior tour, and certainly no Golf Channel, the television network devoted solely to golf that he helped create.  
     -- Forbes

     He was the first athlete to receive three of the United States’ civilian honors: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and the National Sports Award.
     -- New York Times

     “He was the king of our sport and always will be.”
     -- Jack Nicklaus 

     From 1958 through 1964, Palmer was the charismatic face of professional golf and one of its dominant players. In those seven seasons, he won seven major titles: four Masters, one United States Open, and two British Opens. With 62 victories on the PGA Tour, he ranks fifth, behind Sam Snead, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, and Ben Hogan. . . . But it was more than his scoring and shotmaking that captivated the sports world. It was how he played. He did not so much navigate a course as attack it.
     -- New York Times

     Palmer was . . . the PGA Tour’s leading money winner in 1958, 1960, 1962, and 1963 and its player of the year in 1960 and 1962. In 1968, he became the first golfer to earn more than $1 million in career prize money on the PGA Tour. The award for the leading money winner each year is now named for him.  
     -- New York Times

     Palmer had a literal army of supporters, a legion of fans known as Arnie’s Army, and popularized the game in ways no golfer before him had. He was not only a transcendent sports star but a business and philanthropic icon who ushered golf into the television era. The charismatic and competitive Palmer not only helped make golf popular outside the country club set with his everyman appeal, but he was one of the first golfers to build a global brand and established a charity foundation that will continue his philanthropic legacy for decades to come.  
     -- Forbes

     “He was the prototype for all of today’s high-earning sports men and women, and one of the few people you can truly say changed the world of sports business.”  
     -- Nigel Currie, sponsorship consultant, NC Partnership

     Palmer won $3.6 million in prize money during his 52 years on the PGA Tour and Champions Tour but 240 times that from appearances, endorsements, licensing, and golf course design. His estimated $875 million in career earnings ranks third all-time in sports, behind only [Michael] Jordan and [Tiger] Woods.  
     -- Forbes

     “He established the sports marketing industry as we knew it. It became a much more sophisticated exercise. It became a real business with real money.”  
     -- Alastair Johnston, chairman, Arnold Palmer Enterprises

     When Mr. Palmer began playing golf professionally, in the 1950s, few athletes were endorsing products, and those that were usually did so for nominal fees and free samples, often cigarettes. Then, in 1958, Mark McCormack, a golf fan with a hunch that professional athletes could be stars off the field as well, began pitching golfers on the idea of letting him represent them in their business dealings. Mr. Palmer was reluctant at first. “I wasn’t looking for an agent,” Palmer said in a recent book, Players: The Story of Sports and Money, and the Visionaries Who Fought to Create a Revolution, by Matthew Futterman. “I had my wife. She was handling everything.” But in the fall of 1959, Mr. Palmer agreed to work with Mr. McCormack on an exclusive basis. Mr. McCormack wanted to sign a contract, but Mr. Palmer preferred a handshake. That handshake, legend has it, was the foundation of one of the most lucrative partnerships in the history of sports.  
     -- New York Times

     Palmer once told McCormack: “I made clear ... from the beginning that I didn’t feel comfortable pitching a product or service I wouldn’t use or didn’t think was very good. That just seemed dishonest to me, and I was pretty sure the public would see right through it.”  
     -- Daily Mail

     A ubiquitous pitchman for more than a half-century, he hawked nearly 50 products and services, from Johnston & Murphy shoes to Ketel One vodka, transforming the celebrity endorsement from a novelty to an industry. At the same time, he carefully cultivated his personal brand, forming his own company, creating a logo, selling products and equipment adorned with his signature, and paving the way for modern stars with diverse business interests like Serena Williams and LeBron James.
     -- New York Times

     “He was the starting point for the creation of the modern sports world. Arnold Palmer is going to be making money long after we are all dead.”  
     -- Matthew Futterman, reporter, Wall Street Journal

     The late Mark McCormack, who represented Mr. Palmer in his business affairs, in his book Arnie wrote that he “had little heart for business dealings.” That was an ironic assessment because Mr. Palmer became the first sports star to turn into something of a corporation. Forbes magazine calculated his earnings in 2015, more than 40 years after his last PGA Tour win, at $40 million, saying his drinks line, including the eponymous iced tea-lemonade drink, was about one-quarter of revenue for AriZona Beverage Company.
     -- Wall Street Journal

     “Last year we sold half a billion containers with Arnie’s face on it.”  
     -- Don Vultaggio, founder, AriZona Beverages

     In the 1990s, the New York Times reported that an Upper West Side wrap restaurant was trying to rename the drink the Tiger Woods “for a new generation.” This effort does not seem to have caught on, and the wrap place has closed.  
     -- New York Times

     Every retired iconic athlete seemingly wants to copy the “Arnold Palmer” model where they license their name and the royalty checks roll in, but few can match the original. Palmer was one of a kind.  
     -- Forbes

     “He meant so much to so many people from all walks of life, and is the embodiment of what can happen if you work hard and always treat people well.”  
     -- Mike McCarley, president, Golf Channel

     On Monday, St. Martin’s Press said it would move up the publication date of Mr. Palmer’s final book by two weeks, to October 11. A Life Well Played: My Stories rocketed up the best-seller list on Amazon to crack the top 50.  
     -- New York Times

     “He was a drinker but never seemed drunk. He was a winner but never seemed cocky. He was richer than many nations but came off like a guy who had a Christmas Club savings account. He had charisma pouring out of his ears, manners enough for entire towns, and swimming pools of testosterone. He flew his own planes, jiggered his own clubs, and drank his vodka straight. He loved people like he loved his next breath and golf even more than that. Golf just got lucky.”
     -- Rick Reilly, Golf magazine