Sunday, September 25, 2016

Remembering A Sports Legend, American Hero

Golfing great, American patriot and US sports legend Arnold Palmer has died at age 87.

Palmer was a truly gracious and charismatic sports hero who captivated not just golf players and fans but the entire nation with his charm, his grace and his sportsmanlike manner. He was also a hugely successful businessman and irrepressible public figure. Few icons have remained so enduringly beloved as this man.

Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) an American professional golfer, is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in professional golf history. He won numerous events on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour, dating back to 1955. Nicknamed "The King", he was one of golf's most popular stars and its most important trailblazer, because he was the first superstar of the sport's television age, which began in the 1950s.

Palmer's social impact on behalf of golf was perhaps unrivaled among fellow professionals; his humble background and plain-spoken popularity helped change the perception of golf as an elite, upper-class pastime to a more democratic sport accessible to middle and working classes. Palmer is part of "The Big Three" in golf during the 1960s, along with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, who are widely credited with popularizing and commercializing the sport around the world.

Palmer won the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998, and in 1974 was one of the 13 original inductees into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

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