A look at the responsibilities that many at the top spurn …. but not one gent in particular, after the jump ….
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I have written before about my admiration for the sports writer John Feinstein …. in large measure, because he is less of a sportswriter and more of a story-teller about the people in sports, what makes them tick, and also the business aspect of sports … all supplied with a liberal point of view. And when it came time for his 1995 book A Good Walk Spoiled— a quote attributed (incorrectly) to Mark Twain about the game of golf — he had no idea that golf would provide him with so much rich material (as it wasn’t a sport he followed in his youth). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And part of this had to do with the late Arnold Palmer (who died at age 87 earlier this week). In Feinstein’s memoirs from 2011 — where he catches-up with some of those he had profiled over the years — he mentions that many of golf’s elder statesmen are somewhat reclusive, hesitant to have to go through interviews late in life. Not so Arnold Palmer — when Feinstein asked his agent for a chance to meet him briefly at a public place, he was invited for breakfast at Palmer’s home— which extended far longer than Feinstein had asked for.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
His career prime was before my time (and probably many reading this) so it’s crucial to understand his importance. John Feinstein likes to say — at least for the 20th Century — that while Jack Nicklaus was its best golfer, Arnold Palmer was its most important. Parts of this obituary from the Guardian newspaper may help:
Before he came along in the 1950s, golf on both sides of the Atlantic was snobby, reactionary and made little effort to broaden its appeal. Though some vestiges of the old exclusiveness still cling on, Mr Palmer threw most of golf’s gates wide open, with lasting consequences ………. He treated all four “majors” seriously, travelling regularly to Britain and lifting our sometimes parochial Open championship on to the world stage ………. The working-class, racially diverse, male and female golf champions of the modern world are his legacy. ……….. Golf is loved and loathed as few sports. But it was Arnold Palmer, with his skill and his sportsmanship, who made it what is loved and loathed today.
All of which is well-and-good … but I was struck by Palmer’s attention to young, up-and-coming players— more than many of his peers did (perhaps concerned about the new competition) for someone who was dubbed the “King of Golf”.
Former Clemson golfer Ben Martin, who is now on the PGA Tour, received letters after both his wins on the Web.com Tour, the PGA Tour’s developmental tour.“They were typed up on his letterhead and signed by him,” Martin said. “It’s pretty special that he would take the time to think about that and send it out to younger guys that are coming up. It’s pretty cool to have a letter from the King.”
Perhaps my favorite story from A Good Walk Spoiled was what Feinstein noted about Palmer following the year-end qualifying tournament that determines the final number of players eligible to play on next year’s professional (PGA) Tour. The Q School is a tournament that Feinstein considers the most “nerve-wracking” one of all: if you are in contention for a PGA tournament title, you are guaranteed a good pay-day (even if you falter). By contrast: if you falter in this tournament, and don’t make make the cut-off for entrance to the PGA Tour in the following year: it’s as if you failed the entrance exam, and have to go back to the minor leagues.
After this tournament, Palmer would make a note of any players who earned a spot on the Tour for the first time and — over the course of the following year — made a point of meeting each of them personally and welcoming them to the Tour ("Where are you from?" ,"Do you have a family?" , "Where did you go to school?" ) … even though Palmer probably already knew the answers.
No one asked him to do it, he did this quietly and made no money from it – but he felt a sense of noblesse oblige as a result of his success in the sport. He was not born a blue-blood, and had to work his way up — but once he reached the pinnacle, he felt a sense of obligation that many of his peers forgot.
I have the sense that this was not so uncommon years ago …. but is fading today. Our political and business leaders give us many examples of exchanging that world-view for a John Galt attitude. Here’s hoping that Arnold Palmer is not a relic from the past.
Let’s close with a short instrumental by another King … that of King Curtis playing Errol Garner’s Misty in an uncommon medium tempo (not a slow ballad).
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