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Audio Morning Drive - Arnold Palmer Interview (11:28)
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TRANSCRIPTS
-This is someone who literally and figuratively or, you know,
he is certainly one of the reasons why we sit
here today. Television and golf, the marriage really started with
him in the late 50s. He's one of the founders
of this network, one of the most important figures, not
only in golf, but really in American sporting history. He
will be 82 years old tomorrow and it's always a
thrill and a pleasure to bring in Arnold Palmer. And
Arnold, first of all, we wish you on the eve
of your birthday a happy birthday, and I must ask
since, you know, you've been lucky. You've had a wonderful
life and nobody knows it more than you. When you
were a kid, what was a thing you asked your
parents for a birthday present? -Nice to talk to you,
and thank you very much. Well, I guess one of
the things that I wanted early on was a set
of golf clubs, but that was even before I knew
what the game was all about and I was hanging
around with my father at the club. They've got me
my birthday present. He got me some sort of wooden
shafted clubs and that's how it all started. -Mr. Palmer,
there's an old cliche and question about what do you
get from the man who has everything. So I will
ask you, now on the eve of your 82nd birthday,
what's on the wish list? -What's on the wish list?
-Well, I don't know. I'm right now, I feel very
fortunate that I've had the life that I've had. -Well,
you've had an amazing life, and I think of Kathleen,
your lovely wife, you have not whispered anything in her
ear like, "Hey, honey, you know, tomorrow I would like
or can I go out and play golf early tomorrow
if the weather is good in Latrobe." Have you not
whispered anything in her ear? -Well, I'm probably gonna go
out and do a little practice swing and hitting some
balls, but I have something else that I'm gonna do
and I really don't think you guys wanna know what
it is. -I don't even know how to follow that
up. -Actually, I'm taking my four sons and their wives
that I play with here in Latrobe and we're gonna
go have a little fun in Atlantic City. How is
that for a birthday? -Oh, very good. -That sounds very
terrific birthday. -That sounds like a great day. Mr. Palmer,
actually speaking of family members of yours, I was reading
messages with your grandson, Sam, last night and I said,
"I'm speaking with your grandfather, and what's the one question,
one story I should ask him about?" And he said,
"Ask him about winning the Hickok Belt as Best Male
Athlete in 1960." He said it's a terrific story. -Well,
you know, that is one of my proudest possessions and
the Hickok Belt that I won, and if you recall,
you guys aren't old enough to remember it, but it
was something that they gave to the Athlete of the
Year, the Professional Athlete of the Year, and each month,
they voted a professional athlete as a winner, and people
like Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Wilt Chamberlain, just all the
great athletes, Stephen Miller, people that I associated with on
those days, and I happened to win 2 of the
12 months, and we went to Rochester, New York to
get the award, and it was quite a party and
I remember the party and all the happenings, and they
told us to get on an elevator to go upstairs
to announce the winner, and of course we did, and
Roger Maris was standing next to me, and he said,
"Hey, Palmer." He said, "What are you doing here?" And
I didn't respond at all. And we went upstairs and
they made the awards and they announced that I was
the winner of the Hickok Belt and I looked at
Roger and I said, "By the way, what are you
doing here?" And Roger and I became good friends after
that. He used to come to Bay Hill and played
golf and we had a lot of fun together, and
unfortunately, he had a premature death, but that was one
of the funny things about the Hickok Belt, and I
understand that the City of Rochester is thinking about reviving
red belt, and I'd certainly hope they do. I think
it would be nice to. Currently, we have, each year,
a Professional Athlete of the Year award and the Hickok
Belt stood for that. -Well, you know, Mr. Palmer, you
mentioned about Roger Maris being a dear friend; another one
of your dear friends, General Eisenhower, former President of the
United States, surprised you on your birthday. I believe it
was 1966, 45 years ago. Did he literally just come
up to your door and ring the doorbell and you
had no idea he was coming? -Well, you know, I
didn't know this was happening, but my wife, Winnie, was
trying to think of something for my birthday and she
decided that she would call the Eisenhower's and see if
they would surprise me on my birthday, and she called
him and got a positive response and so the whole
thing took place. She sent the airplane to pick up
the President and Winnie drove her Chrysler and they got
to Latrobe, and I was headed for Laurel Valley for
the member guest, and when all of this was happening,
the doorbell rang, and I walked out and here was
the President of the United-- well, he was past President
of the United States in a leather flight jacket and
he looked at me and he said, "Hey, Arnie." He
said, "You supposed you could put an old man up
for the weekend?" And that was President Eisenhower. And I
can say that he was one of the greatest people,
not just a President and a General and and a
leader, but he was one of the great people of
all times. He was a man that I appreciated probably
as much as many of my friends and I considered
him one of my bestfriends. -Mr. Palmer, another birthday memory.
You shut your age in competition in 1995. You shut
your age in competition in 2001. It must be easy
for you now these days. -What do you think of
your age? -Well, I'm, you know, 82, my goodness. Well,
I tell you what. I think that there's one thing
I can still do, and you're gonna say what is
it. -What is it? -I can shoot 82. My game
is not so good, but I still enjoyed working at
it and I go out and practice and do the
things that are fun for me on the golf course.
And as I've said, my friends-- I enjoyed playing with
my friends; one is a dentist; one is an engineer;
one is an entrepreneur who runs his own company, and
we're gonna have some fun on my birthday. I don't
know what kind of plan it's going to be, but
I hope it's fun. -Well, I know, we know that
it will be fun, and I gotta ask you because
you were somebody who loved team competitions. Yourself, Jack Nicklaus,
you partnered together, won a lot of World Cups together,
the Ryder Cup experiences, the Walker Cup is this weekend.
What was the thing that you enjoyed so much about
team competitions and what is generally in individual sport? -Well,
of course, Nicklaus is one of the greatest players of
the world. I can't take the thing away from Jack.
He is one of the great players that I have
ever had the opportunity to see, and I can say
that without equivocation, but I also have to say that
Gary Player and some of the other guys that I
played with were great players and real competitors, and that
was part of what I enjoyed about my life and
have enjoyed over the years. And to think that those
guys are still my good friends and we have an
occasion to play now once in a while, and we
enjoy getting together and being able to talk about the
old times and talk about the competitions we had. You
know, I played with Jack many times, and the one
thing that was sort of bothersome to both of us
was the fact that we played in tournaments and sometimes
we got to competing against each other so much that
we didn't play as well as we should and someone
else beat us both, and that was not really as
unusual as it may sound, but the players that I
knew like Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan and Sam Snead
and they're guys from yesteryears that were really great players
and let me tell you that they were great players.
They were very good and they were a pleasure to
play golf against, and that was part of my life
and part of the things that I enjoyed in my
life and things that I look forward to when I
was a young boy. To have known and to be
able to sit in a room and talk to Bobby
Jones was one of the great things in my life,
and I sincerely enjoyed that, along with a lot of
the great players of the old times, Jim [unk]. When
I played my first Masters, the first round I ever
played in the Masters was with Jim [unk], and I
was really impressed, and he was older then and he
was competitive, but it was a real thrill to be
able to play with him and to see him and
talk to him and get a feeling for what he
thought of the game of golf. And those things are
gonna stick with me forever. There are things that are
so important and things that I like to refer to
in this present day and at 82 years old. -Well,
Mr. Palmer, happy birthday. We hope that you and Kathleen
and your friends enjoy a great trip to the Atlantic
City. I put on that Hickok Belt and walk right
into the Casino. I think that would be the thing
to do with your staple pastel sweater draped over your
shoulders. You would-- you really look like a million bucks.
Happy birthday, and as always, it's a real thrill for
us to have you on this program. -Well, thank you
and Keith says hello to all of you and we
look forward to seeing you on the Golf Channel. -Alright,
thank you. -Thanks so much. -Happy birthday, Mr. Palmer. -There
is Arnold Palmer, 82 years old tomorrow, head it off
to Atlantic City with friends.
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