Born in Latrobe, PA, Arnold D. Palmer is widely thought to be one of the best golfers ever to play the game. Palmer has been the winner of a number of PGA Tours as well as the Champions Tour since his first big tournament win in 1955. Palmer is simply known as “The King” among many fans and players alike and has achieved worldwide fame. He is acknowledged, along with Gary Player and Jack Nickaus as one of the Big Three in the game. With the advent of televised golf matches in the 1950′s, Palmer’s playing which led to a growing interest in the sport.

Arnold began early, having learned his love for the game from his father, Deacon; a greens keeper at the Latrobe Country Club. At the tender age of seven, Palmer scored a 70 at the nearby Bent Creek Country Club, an impressive achievement, especially considering his age. Palmer cut his teeth in the game on the then only nine hole Latrobe Country Club course, on which he was allowed to play early in the morning and late in the afternoon when members did not have tee times scheduled.

He attended the popular Wake Forest University appropriately on a golf scholarship and served for three years in the Coast Guard. During this time, while continuing to develop his golf skills, he married Winifred Walker who he met while playing in a Pennsylvania golf tourney. During his rookie season, he won the Canadian Open and surged ahead with personality and business ideas that made golf a sport people became interested in and wanted to watch-many people give Palmer the credit for the sport becoming so popular.

He won his first major championship at the 1958 Masters and by 1960, he claimed his title as one of golf’s leading stars. Signing with sports agent Mark McCormack, in 1960, McCormack was asked in later years what made Arnold so special. He replied, “his good looks, his modest background, the way he played golf, his risk taking and wearing his heart on his sleeve, and his involvement in so many exciting early televised finishes.” Palmer was one the first US player to win The Open Championship in England-Ben Hogan won it in 1953; making Arnold an international star in the eyes of golf fans everywhere. Arnold won seven major championships including The Masters in 1958, 1960, 1962, and 1964; the US Open in 1960; and, The Open Championship in 1961 and 1962. His best years were perhaps 1960-1963 where he championed 29 PGA Tour events in just four seasons.

Arnold Palmer was the 1960 Sports Illustrated pro athlete of the year; 1960 also saw him winning the coveted Sportsman of the Year award. He continued to win a dedicated fan base (so dedicated, in fact that they came to be known as “Arnie’s Army”). In 1967, Palmer became the first professional golfer to earn more than one million over the course of his career. It is a testament to Palmer’s ability that he continued to win at least one PGA tour event every year until 1970, even against competition from Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus – and in 1971, he won four PGA tour events.

The winner of four Vardon Trophies for low average score and a member on six different Ryder Cup teams, Palmer was by 1980 eligible for the PGA Senior Tour – an event which his famous name brought success to. The event would eventually be renamed the Champions Tour; Palmer won ten events on this tour and thanks to the talent of his agent McCormack, Palmer earned more in endorsements, charity events and sponsorships than any other player in the sport. Arnold Palmer has even won the highest honor given to civilians in the US – the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award, which was presented to Palmer by President Bush.

Palmer made his 50th and last appearance in the Masters in 2004. After failing to make the cut for the 2005 Senior Open, Palmer announced that he would no longer compete in the Senior Majors. However, in 2004 he made one of his greatest shots, getting onto the 18th green in his second shot from more than 200 yards. Even Palmer himself was impressed.

Beyond golf, Arnold is involved in many businesses including the Bay Hill Club and Lodge (the home of the Arnold Palmer Invitational), helped organize and create The Golf Channel, and helped to build the first golf course in the People’s Republic of China. He started The Arnold Palmer Design Company and moved to Orlando, Florida in 2006. He has owned the Latrobe Country Club since 1971-something Laaaytrobians won’t let anyone forget. In 2000, he was ranked a deserved sixth greatest player of all time in Golf Digest and was awarded the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award (1998) and made it into the World Golf Hall of Fame (1974). Perhaps Palmer’s most popular characteristic is indeed his character-a warm, full of laughter, genuine man who simply loved to play golf.