Arnold Palmer Transcript


November 17, 2005

For Golf History

Groundbreaking Ceremony

USGA, Far Hills, N.J.

Palmercomments from the podium:

You've heard the history of what has happened here, and what is going to happen here with the Museum, which I can't tell you how proud I am to have been named in this particular honor. I have not prepared speech and I really am not prepared to make a speech except to tell you that this Museum is something that is very, very important to me and to the future of golf. But the United States Golf Association, the USGA and their task for the future is even more important because they have a task that is going to help keep the game of golf in the very high standards that I was raised and learned to enjoy in my lifetime. I just hope that we can convince all the young people who are coming into the game to have the respect for the game and this Association that they should have. I mentioned the future. The future of the game is something that we all have a great responsibility to protect. If there is one thing that I can do in the future to help protect the integrity of the game of golf, that's what I would like to do. Again, to be here today to see this happening and to know what is going to happen in the future. I think back in the history of the USGA and I think of people who had an influence on me. I could go to and the influence he had on the game.  To and the influence he had on the game and this organization. To all the Executive Committee, the directors, the people that I have known for well over 50 years and worked with and played golf with and played against and enjoyed. I thank all of you. I will continue to thank the USGA for the contributions that they make. I will give them a charge to continue the work that they do to make this organization one of the finest organizations in all of sports in the world. Their responsibility is not going to lessen. With all the modern technology and all the things that are happening in golf today, it's only going to grow. And to the volunteers, which for best part are all of my friends from around the world and this country, I thank you for your efforts and I thank you for being here today.

In a short speech Thursday, Arnold Palmer spoke about the importance of the USGA's place in the game, among other things. (John Mummert/USGA)

Post-ceremony Q&A

Q: What is your legacy for this event and this new building?

A: Well, I'm not sure I can tell you. First of all, I am very proud of the fact that they have chosen me for the name of the museum. That's beyond. That's like winning the Amateur, the Open and the Senior Open all at once, having this happen. That's it. It's like winning another Open. I am very flattered. I don't think you can put words to how important it is to me as an individual. When I was a kid, there was my family and God and the USGA. That was kind of the way I was raised with all the respect and everything because I knew the people who gave their time. If there is something that is vitally important to the USGA it is the people, the volunteers that give themselves and a lot of their efforts to make this organization what it is.

Q: Have you been given any indication of how you'll be involved in the Center?

A: Not really.  The involvement now is my name. You know that with that I'll make contributions through my memorabilia and other things that we can help enhance this whole program.

Q: Does this put you one up on Jack [Nicklaus]?

A: Well, Jack's 10 years younger than I am and in 10 years they'll do another room or they'll do a part here for Jack, and they should. That's the way it's been all these years, these last 40 years. I precede him but he's close behind.

Q: There's Hogan Room, there's Jones Room and there's a . Please talk about that.

A: It's great and there will be another. You can bet on that.

Q: Do you drift emotionally to what your Dad and Winnie might have thought with this honor, that they would have been very, very proud?

A: Oh, unbelievably. Well, I come from a very sentimental family, so it's something that the emotion is unbelievable. My father, even though he wouldn't admit it, was a very emotional person, and my mother and my daughters and my wife Winnie, before my present wife, Kit, and she's very emotional, too. So we haven't run out of emotion in this gang that I have associated with over the years. When they asked me to do this, I got very emotional. Simply, because it's my life.

Q: Did you have any sense of golf history when you were younger?

A: I was involved forever in history and a lot of people have no idea to what extent that is. When I won the British Open at Birkdale, I was sitting in the hotel shortly after having won and one of the first phone calls I got from was and you think about that. Through that history and that sequence of events, I knew Walter. But then, again as history and life goes on, I was a pallbearer at 's funeral. Those things are important. I think about things that happened with the USGA. . Joe was, to me, one of the most important people in the world. He was the mentor of the USGA when I was a boy and I got to know him personally and we became close friends. I made him the first commissioner of the Tour, as we know it today. He was my selection to become that commissioner. I must say, he did it reluctantly because he was retired. He did it for the best interests of the game of golf. I think that's very important. Following events since then and what has happened here, I mentioned it in my few words outside, the future of golf is extremely, and I can't emphasize how important the United States Golf Associaton is -- how important and what the work in the future is going to be for them to keep the integrity of the game as we have known it and as I have known it. If there's some way I can insist that it has to happen, I would do it, but I think they can handle it.

Q: You've been the people's champion. This is a way to connect to every golfer.

A: Thank you for that. I hope that I can. We continually talk about the things that are happening and how out of control this country and the world is, but we don't talk enough about the good things that are happening. Whether it is what the USGA is doing or what they are going to continue to do, we need to put an emphasis on all the good things that are happening and not just the bad things and that's very important. And, particularly with golf and sports. Think about right here, what we are doing here, and what this means to the future of the game, and how important it is that we continue this legacy of people like , , Oiumet and Jones and the great people of the game of golf.