Arnold Palmer Graces This Week's Sports Illustrated Cover
As tributes continue to pour in for Arnold Palmer following his passing on Sunday, The King graces the cover of Sports Illustrated for the 12th time.
In spite of a day of fantastic golfing drama around the globe on Sunday, there was only really one story that mattered to anyone in the world of golf that night, and in the time since.
For as much as Rory McIlroy’s thrilling victory at the Tour Championship made for one of the most memorable conclusions to a PGA Tour season in recent memory, in the end it acted as little more than a fitting backdrop to the final moments of one of golf’s most iconic figures.
Unlike many other golfers throughout the generations, Arnold Palmer’s appeal and importance far transcended the sport in which he played.
Palmer was a character so big and so effortlessly cool that he almost single-handedly paved the way for the television era that has made golf a commercial behemoth today.
In sport it can be rare to find a figure that’s liked, respected and remembered by their peers, while at the same time revered by future generations to come, but that’s exactly how the man known as The King was perceived.
As a result, among the many fitting tributes made in Palmer’s memory over the past 48 hours or so, not many have greater significance than his place on the cover of this week’s national cover of Sports Illustrated.
This week's national cover: Remembering Arnold Palmer https://t.co/QZ5ZCMs0Mm pic.twitter.com/2P8MNDH29p
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) September 27, 2016
While Palmer’s impact on golf isn’t lost on anyone who has played the game, he belonged to sport overall rather than just his own game. The Pennsylvania native was a legend who had graced the cover 11 times prior to his death, so it’s fitting that he should have the chance to do so one more time now.
Palmer was Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year back in 1961, having made his debut appearance on the cover alongside Kenneth Venturi and Dow Finsterwald for a 1960 US Open preview.
The current cover, seen in the tweet above, is headed “King of Kings” and marks Palmer’s first appearance on the front of SI since 1970. Inside the magazine, there’s also an obituary written by Michael Bamberger of SI and Golf.com, as well as a collection of photos and facts about Palmer’s life and career.
It acts as a reminder of not just how well loved Palmer was in the greater world of sports, but also how deeply he’ll be missed now that he’s gone. For any big Arnie fans looking to pick up a special memento to mark the week that’s in it, Palmer’s issue of Sports Illustrated will hit newsstands on September 29.
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