My Father and Arnold Palmer – Embodying Honesty and Respect

By MIKE MAGEE

My father and Arnold Palmer had a great deal in common – and none of it involved golf. They were both men of faith and lived into their 80’s. My father was Catholic, and Arnold Palmer was Presbyterian. But on the day that Palmer died (September 25, 2016), Benedictine Archabbot Douglas R. Nowicki of St. Vincent’s Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, was at his bedside.

Nowicki and Palmer’s friendship dated back a half century. He and his wife would often attend 7:30 a.m. Sunday Mass at the abbey.

At the time of Palmer’s death, the Benedictine monk said, “Arnie sort of appealed to everyone. There were no barriers, race, color, creed — those were things that never entered into his mind. He was welcoming to everybody and treated everyone with tremendous warmth and respect.”

But eight years and one month after his death, Palmer’s daughter, Peg Palmer Wears felt compelled to rise up and defend her father’s honor. In the Latrobe Airport, named after him, Donald Trump (according to FOX News) “discussed the golf legend’s manhood and how other players would react to Palmer in the showers.” Specifically, in an effort to relate to the local audience, Trump said, “He was all man. This man was so strong and tough, and I refused to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there; they said, ‘Oh my God, that’s unbelievable.’”

The reaction from his daughter, a registered Independent from North Carolina, was swift. She labeled his words, “disrespectful” and “inappropriate”… “appropriating someone he admires to bolster his own image, people deserve better.” Her words in defense of her father, who was no longer there to speak for himself, called to mind my sister Sue’s Eulogy to our father. It focused on the values and qualities in him that she admired – honesty, hard work, compassion, integrity, humility, kindness, and love for others.

In one memorable turn in Church the day of our dad’s burial, Sue said, “He taught us honesty. I was a little girl when Dad first impressed upon me the importance of honesty. He related a story to me about his own childhood. He had gone to the store and when he paid the shopkeeper there was some question about the amount of change he was due. He said more. The shopkeeper was uncertain but took Dad’s word because he said, ‘He had never known Bill Magee to tell a lie.’ He finished that story by saying to me, ‘There is nothing more important than honesty. People may not always like what you have to say, but if they can believe you then they will always trust you.’ That was a lesson Dad taught over and over again. His personal honesty and his integrity were beyond reproach.”

I believe my sister Sue and Peg would see eye to eye. Sue said of our Dad, “He was hard working. He was a man with heart. He was a gentleman.” In Mr. Palmer’s defense, Peg said much the same. When asked what her dad would have thought if he were alive to hear Trump’s remarks, she replied,  “He would have thought ‘He’s not as smart as we thought he was’ and walk out of the room. What would my dad think of Donald Trump today? I think he’d cringe.”

Both my father and Arnold Palmer were lifelong Republicans, conservatives, served in the military, were great admirers of Ronald Reagan, and attendees at Catholic Sunday masses. But I believe they were also wise enough to know that no policy gain – on federal funding of private schools, or limits on abortion and contraception, or lower taxes, or conservative Supreme Court Justices – would ever be enough of a rationalization to signal to an evil and dishonest man like Trump that the traits he embodies are acceptable for America.

Trump needs to be surrounded by vast sea of MAGA hat wearing admirers for affirmation. How antithetical to the man who’s name he took in vain last week. In contrast, Archabbot Nowicki recalled a visit with Mr. Palmer at the Bay Hill Golf Club in Orlando, Florida this way: “He had given one of our commencement addresses. He talked about the importance of decorum. He said, ‘That means when you enter a room that you take your hat off.’” At the club, a man “came into the dining room and had his hat on. Arnie said very gently to him, ‘Will you please take off your hat?’ He had that respect for people.”

If Bill Magee and Arnold Palmer were alive today, I believe they would never vote for Trump – Never, Never, Never!

Mike Magee MD is a Medical Historian and a regular contributor to THCB. He is the author of CODE BLUE: Inside America’s Medical Industrial Complex (Grove/2020).