Palmer's influence felt in the golf world and beyond

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Years before Jack Nicklaus, decades before Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer was the face of golf.

His following grew so large, it became an Army. He was the first golfer to earn $1 million in his career. His emergence onto the golf scene coincided with the rise in televised coverage, so the young man from Latrobe, Pa., attracted millions of fans to the sport.

Palmer rose so high in the golf world -- and the sporting world -- that he went by just one name.

The King.

"There is no king of golf," Palmer once said. "Never has been, never will be. Golf is the most democratic game on earth ..."

PHOTO ESSAY: There may never be a golfer as photogenic as Arnold Palmer. Need proof? Check out these images of his career. Click here 80 THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT ARNIE: Is it his smile? His untucked shirt? Or the fact that he has a tea named after him? Columnist Melanie Hauser has her top 80. Click here PLAYERS REACT: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, Gary Player, Ben Crenshaw and others discuss their memories of Arnie, and the impact he has made on their careers. Click here BEST MEMORIES: PGATOUR.COM's columnists share their best memories of dealing with the King. Click here FATHER AND SON: PGATOUR.COM's Brian Wacker reveals how Arnie reached out to his father, who was dying of cancer. Click here LETTER FROM ARNIE: Helen Ross shares a note from Arnie that inspired her father in his battle against prostate cancer. Click here INFLUENCE ON GOLF: He isn't just a golfer. He's an icon who transcended the game, created an Army and made golf cool to watch. Click here ARNIE'S NUMBERS: His wins, margins of victory and the rest of Arnie's numbers. Click here

But he earned that nickname on the course and, like many monarchs in the feudal system, this King's reach extended far beyond the boundaries of his realm.

Palmer played his first PGA TOUR event as an amateur in 1949, the same time the first regularly scheduled television programs began in the United States. He won his first PGA TOUR title at the 1955 Canadian Open; that same year, the Masters was televised for the first time.

In the 1960s, as Palmer captured 43 tournament titles, including six of his seven major championships, television coverage grew with him as he became a star.

"Without his charisma, without his personality in conjunction with TV, it was just the perfect symbiotic growth," said Woods. "You finally have someone who has this charisma, and they're capturing it on TV for the very first time. Everyone got hooked to the game of golf via TV because of Arnold."

The charisma that charmed television audiences also attracted the attention of the late Mark McCormack, then a young lawyer in Cleveland.

McCormack and Palmer met for the first time in college, when McCormack was on the William & Mary golf team and Palmer competed for Wake Forest. McCormack wanted to create a sports management firm, and in 1959, he asked Palmer to be his first client. As the pair famously shook hands to cement the partnership, they became pioneers in the sports marketing industry and helped create today's sports marketing powerhouse, IMG.

McCormack, who would eventually represent Gary Player, Nicklaus, Chris Evert, Pete Sampras, Derek Jeter and Charles Barkley, couldn't have selected a better first client. As McCormack once said, Palmer had five intangibles that made him a legend.

"One: his appearance. Two: the fact that he was the son of a golf pro and a caddie and had grown up the American way, sort of, not from a wealthy family. Three: the way he played golf, and the way he wore his emotions on his sleeve on the golf course, in a nice way, as opposed to screaming and yelling and slamming clubs. And he took chances, and people liked that. Four: the fact that he had some very spectacular finishes right when television was hitting -- Cherry Hills, the Open, at the Masters -- doing these dramatic things and beginning the Palmer charge and all that stuff," McCormack said.

And, finally, his ability with people.

"He could relate to people whether they were President Eisenhower or a truck driver, in the same way. And [he] was a very genuine, very patient person," McCormack noted.

Though the pair didn't invent the sports marketing concept, they were the first to create a successful business empire from just one player.

"Instead of a mere hot commodity, (Palmer) became an immortal in alligator shoes," McCormack said after Palmer won the U.S. Open in 1960.

The two established Arnold Palmer Enterprises just one year later, and McCormack decided, like other corporations, they needed a logo to distinguish their brand.

So Palmer and some business associates met to discuss ideas. What symbol could they place on clothes, stationery and other golf items? Crossed golf clubs were suggested, as were laurel leaves. But it was Palmer himself who came up with a multi-colored golf umbrella.

Like so many things King Palmer, touched, the brand turned to gold. It is still one of the most recognized logos in the world, especially in Asia, and even now, decades later, Palmer and his longtime assistant, Doc Giffin, pass out umbrella pins to fans.

It was his rapport with the fans that led to Arnie's Army. Few other players understood the sports marketing world and the art of interacting with people like Palmer. He made eye contact with his loyal followers and shook hands with the crowd. His view on autographs even reached other sports.

"I try to make (autographs) legible. I learned that from Arnold Palmer," Ed Reed of the Baltimore Ravens said last month. "I was watching the GOLF CHANNEL once, and Arnold Palmer came on and was talking about autographs. He said, 'Make sure people can read it so they remember you.' So that's what I try to do."

Golfer Peter Jacobsen learned the same lesson from the King himself.

"Back when I first started, I was signing an autograph for someone in front of Arnie ... Arnie looked down at my scribble and said, 'What is that?' I said, 'It's my autograph.' He said, 'That's fine if you're signing a bank check, but when you're autographing a piece of memorabilia for someone, you had better make it legible.' I thought to myself, you know he's right -- it's no fun to get an autograph if you can't even tell who it is from," Jacobsen said.

"So now I always sign my name clearly, do a little sketch for them or something. Funny thing about it is I ran into Paula Creamer a few years ago, and she said Arnie taught her the same thing."

Over the years, Palmer's influence spread into other areas. In 1972, he founded Arnold Palmer Design Company, which has created over 300 golf courses throughout the world. The Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, a world-class pediatrics medical facility in Orlando, opened in 1989 and is supported by the Arnold Palmer Medical Center Foundation. Palmer helped secure $80 million in 1995 to launch the GOLF CHANNEL in 1995, one of the first cable channels to cover a single sport that can now been seen in over 100 million households.

"Well, I always say that when golf and when CBS and Augusta and Arnold Palmer came together in '58 and '60," PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said at this year's 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer, "that was the beginning of the modern golf era."

An era defined by many players, many faces and many champions, but only one true luminary of the game. The man even has a drink named after him. So raise a glass of half sweet tea, half lemonade, and toast the legend on his 80th birthday.

Long live the King.