He won the Canadian Open in 1955 at the Weston Golf Club right across the street from me. I mean, he was 87, not unexpected I suppose, but that's quite a loss. Tough year..
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RIP Arnold Palmer
- Thread starter scott43
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He has a 9am tee time tomorrow with Payne Stewart.. Who else should be in that foursome?? Bobby Jones? Sam Sneed?
R.I.P. What a great role model he was..
R.I.P. What a great role model he was..
Thanks for the heads up. This thread is the first I had heard of this. A very special sports hero of the old fashioned type. I had a very brief personal interaction with him one time when he was Captain of the President's Cup team in 1996 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia. I was there on a practice day when things are informal. He was about to tee off during a practice round with Mark Brooks and others on the team and I was about 20 feet away and I called out, "go get 'em Arnie." He smiled and looked right at me and said, "not me, them;" and pointed at Mark Brooks and the other players. He had that generous way of connecting with people and his brand of charisma was based on friendliness and unpretentious grace.
If you look up "class", there is a picture of Arnie.
Sad news--really a transcendent figure who was really in a class by himself when it came to connecting people. He was not only the greatest ambassador of golf but among the greatest ambassadors of any sport. The stories you hear about him bear out that he was the genuine article--as Phil says pure class. I just turned to the Golf Channel when I saw this and they are paying tribute to him. It looks like it is going to be worth watching if you are interested.
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As a kid I remember watching the PGA Championship every year and hoping and rooting and praying for Arnie to win and get the Grand Slam (much like I do now for Phil at the US Open). He made golf what it is today. He belongs on Olympus.
Heard the news this morning, a lifetime hero of mine. When I was young, my dad loved to watch him on the tv, so, at a very early age I became a member of Arnie's Army. This week is the Ryder Cup, and, I am marveling at the coincidence of Golf's biggest event and Arnie's passing. There will be many great stories told and his presence will be felt in each match. More important, the members of the Ryder Cup teams will honor "the King's" spirit of how the game should be played. I spent time watching the Golf Channel this morning, so many touching antidotes about his life. A sad day in many ways, but, his story will always be about how he lived his life. And none lived a better life doing what he loved to do.
RIP Arnie
RIP Arnie
I feel just about as badly to hear that Arnie passed away as I did when I heard about Stein. I think I posted my Stein story awhile back, but in case I didn't, here it is again:
My Stein story goes back to April 1965. My family skied Aspen and Aspen Highlands and then Vail the week of April school vacation – the only time I've ever skied out West. I was 16, and my brother was 12. We were skiing a run called 'Forever' on a back bowl at Vail called 'Sundown' in mid-morning spring corn. There were 4 guys skiing together ahead of us who were insanely great skiers. When we got down to the bottom of the lift we saw that they were Stein Eriksen, Pepe Gramshammer, Ernst Hinterseer, and Anderl Molterer ("The blitz from Kitz") – all recent Olympic stars. We followed them for a few more runs down the same slope, and then deciding that we might be annoying them, moved back to the front side. I was standing across the slope about 200 yards down from a cornice at the top when Stein came flying off the cornice and swooped down and made a big GS turn around the tips of my skis. His smile was blinding! I thought it was really cool until my brother pointed out that it was probably his way of saying, "Get out of my face, kid!" I'll never forget it!
But I have an Arnie story, too, and I think it's just as good:
Back in the mid-to-late '80's I saw Arnie play in a Seniors tournament at Marlborough CC in Massachusetts. He drove to the far left side of the fairway on a Par 5. We were standing in a crowd of onlookers in the rough only about 20 feet from his ball. He had well over 200 yards left to the green - all uphill, all carry. Someone in the crowd bellowed out, "Hey, Arnie, are you gonna go for it?" Palmer shot back without hesitation, "You bet your ass I am!" Then he turned to his caddy and said quietly, "Can I make it from here?"
My Stein story goes back to April 1965. My family skied Aspen and Aspen Highlands and then Vail the week of April school vacation – the only time I've ever skied out West. I was 16, and my brother was 12. We were skiing a run called 'Forever' on a back bowl at Vail called 'Sundown' in mid-morning spring corn. There were 4 guys skiing together ahead of us who were insanely great skiers. When we got down to the bottom of the lift we saw that they were Stein Eriksen, Pepe Gramshammer, Ernst Hinterseer, and Anderl Molterer ("The blitz from Kitz") – all recent Olympic stars. We followed them for a few more runs down the same slope, and then deciding that we might be annoying them, moved back to the front side. I was standing across the slope about 200 yards down from a cornice at the top when Stein came flying off the cornice and swooped down and made a big GS turn around the tips of my skis. His smile was blinding! I thought it was really cool until my brother pointed out that it was probably his way of saying, "Get out of my face, kid!" I'll never forget it!
But I have an Arnie story, too, and I think it's just as good:
Back in the mid-to-late '80's I saw Arnie play in a Seniors tournament at Marlborough CC in Massachusetts. He drove to the far left side of the fairway on a Par 5. We were standing in a crowd of onlookers in the rough only about 20 feet from his ball. He had well over 200 yards left to the green - all uphill, all carry. Someone in the crowd bellowed out, "Hey, Arnie, are you gonna go for it?" Palmer shot back without hesitation, "You bet your ass I am!" Then he turned to his caddy and said quietly, "Can I make it from here?"
