Arnold Daniel Palmer
1929 – 2016
Arnold Daniel Palmer was born on September 10, 1929, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He was the oldest of four children born
to Deacon and Doris Palmer. Deacon worked at Latrobe Coutry Club as a groundskeeper/club pro who shortened a set of
regulation woman's clubs so that his 4 year old son could use them. Growing up near the sixth tee of the club,
Palmer learned the grip and the swing from his father, as well as manners, empathy, integrity and respect.
Palmer worked nearly every job at the club before heading to Wake Forest University on a golf scholarship, where he
became one of the top collegiate players winning three Atlantic Coast Conference Championships. But when his close friend,
Bud Worsham, was killed in a car accident, Palmer quit school and enlisted for a three-year hitch in the U.S. Coast Guard.
While stationed in Cleveland, his passion for golf was rekindled. Then, while working as a paint salesman, Palmer quickly
got his game back in order and won the second of two consecutive Ohio Amateur Championships as well as the 1954 U.S.
Amateur Championship. On Nov. 18, 1954, at 25, he turned pro and signed a contract with Wilson Sporting Goods.
Arnold Palmer enjoyed decent success during his early years on the tour. He captured the 1955 Canadian Open for his first
pro victory, and picked up a scattering of other wins over the next two years.
But it was the 1958 Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, that launched the young golfer to fame. Palmer took home the
title ‐ making him the tournament's youngest champion at the time ‐ and ended up finishing the year No. 1 on the money list,
with $40,000.
His greatest stretch of golf began in 1960 and lasted four years, with Palmer winning six major championships and 29 titles
on the PGA Tour. It was in 1960, at the Masters in Augusta, Ga., that a local newspaper coined the phrase
"Arnie's Army," when soldiers from nearby Camp Gordon followed Palmer. Soon, non-uniformed fans across the
land enlisted.
Palmer's defining moment, one that embedded the word "charge" into the minds of his adoring fans, came in
Arnold Daniel Palmer
1929 – 2016
the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills. Palmer had won the Masters two months earlier, with birdies on the final two holes
to edge Ken Venturi by one shot. But Palmer began the final round of the Open seven strokes and 14 players behind and was
told by Bob Drum of The Pittsburgh Press that he was too far behind to win.
Angered by the remark, Palmer drove the first green 346 yards away and made the first of four consecutive birdies. He
added birdies on the sixth and seventh and shot a final-round 65 to complete the comeback victory.
By the early 1960s, Palmer was the world's best and most successful golfer. Between 1960 and 1963, he won an astounding 29
titles and took home more than $400,000 in prize money. He also served as captain of the winning U.S. Ryder Cup team in 1963,
and captained the team again 1975.
Palmer quickly became a marketing giant for products ranging from golf equipment to jackets and slacks to automobile
oil and rental cars. He became the first professional golfer to earn $1 million for his career. Even into his 80s
he was pulling in an estimated $20 million per year.
"Arnold was the epitome of a superstar," fellow Hall of Famer Raymond Floyd said. "He set the standard
for how superstars in every sport ought to be, in the way he has always signed autographs, in the way he has always
made time for everyone. On the golf course, all I ever saw was a mass of people. He was able to focus in on everyone
in the gallery individually. It wasn't fake. And man, could he play the game."
In all, Palmer won 93 titles. He won seven major championships, including four Masters and two British Opens. Palmer's
last major win came at the 1964 Masters. The victory made Palmer the first golfer to win the Masters Tournament four times
(1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964). Yet, even as his dominance on the tour began to fade, Palmer still remained golf's biggest
money winner for several years. In 1968, he became the first golfer to eclipse $1 million in total purse winnings.
In later years, Palmer enjoyed several big victories on the Senior Tour, including the 1980 PGA Seniors
Championship and the 1981 U.S. Senior Open.
An American of unblushing patriotism, Brother Palmer was proud of his service in the Coast Guard. Hw was a family man
before all else, he married Winifred Walzer in 1954, and they are rightly proud of their two daughters, four granddaughters,
and grandson.
Arnold Palmer was a member of Loyahanna Lodge 275, Latrobe PA. He bacame a 32° Scottish Rite Mason and in 1997
Palmer was made a 33° Mason in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction.
What impresses most about Arnie is his charitable spirit. As with every true Masonic Brother, Relief is a
principle Brother Palmer holds as dearly as Brotherhood and Truth. He served as Honorary National Chairman of the March
of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation for 20 years. In addition, he played a major role in fundraising for the Arnold Palmer
Hospital for Children and Women in Orlando, Florida. Not forgetting his hometown, he is a longtime member of the Board
of Directors of the Latrobe Area Hospital and established a major annual fundraising golf event for that institution in
1992. Brother Arnold Palmer's humanitarian awards are too numerous to mention, but here are just a few of them: Order
of Eagle Exemplar, U.S. Sports Academy; Arthur J. Rain Award, Catholic Youth Association, Pittsburgh; Lawman
Humanitarian Award, Los Angeles; the Theodore Roosevelt Award, National Collegiate Athletic Association; Outstanding
American Award, Los Angeles Philanthropic Foundation; Sports Legend Award, Jr. Diabetes Foundation, Pittsburgh; The
"Good Guy" Award, American Legion National Commanders.
Arnold Palmer is a "Good Guy," outstanding Mason, and American hero. In the Scottish Rite House of the
Temple, nationally prominent American Brethren are honored in a special place, a Scottish Rite Hall of Honor where there are
displayed many original oil portraits of such greats as, President Harry S. Truman; Admiral Arleigh Burke;
Generals MacArthur and Doolittle; Senators Sam Ervin and Sam Nunn; entertainers Will Rogers and Gene Autry;
clergymen the Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Bishop Carl J. Sanders, and Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin; and Scottish Rite
leaders such as Robert L. Dillard, Jr., Charles E. "Ted" Webber, and William M. Hollis.
And also, Arnold Palmer.
