Arnold Palmer’s 80th birthday was marked by a fanfare of events and celebrations that reflected many different dimensions of his fabled life. Kingdom was close at hand to record some of the more memorable moments as the King passed his milestone

From left: Palmer with Howdy Giles, Vince Gill and The King

As birthday celebrations go, it was one heck of a party!

On Thursday, September 10, 2009, Arnold Palmer turned 80, but by then the King had already presided over a hectic six days of festivities which began in Orlando, Florida (his winter home), continued in his native state of Pennsylvania and concluded at the end of the month in the White House.

The whole program teed off with a special breakfast on Friday, September 4 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Arnold Palmer Medical Center in downtown Orlando.

Originally opened in 1989 as the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children & Women, it became a children-only project in 2006 when the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, in memory of Mr. Palmer’s first wife, was created with expanded obstetric, neo-natal and gynecological services.

Over the past 20 years, the hospital staff have delivered 179,000 babies and cared for well over a million patients.

The main event came the following evening in the Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Studios and the highlights of this double birthday celebration included a concert from country music superstar Vince Gill and his wife Amy Grant, and the unveiling of a giant birthday cake presented to Mr. Palmer by former patients in recognition of his sustained commitment to the hospital.

“Most people think of the golfer, Arnold Palmer, but he is a wonderful philanthropist. Arnold lent his name to the hospital more than 20 years ago and said he would help us build a children’s hospital in Orlando. Back then he took a tour of our old facility and said we can do better than this for our children,” said John Bozard, president of Arnold Palmer Medical Center, to enthusiastic applause from hospital officials and dozens of the children who had benefited from the Center’s first-class medical care.

The following week Mr. Palmer flew his own Cessna Citation X to Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and on Tuesday, September 8 he was at PNC Park in Pittsburgh to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Pirates’ game against Chicago Cubs and to attend a fund-raising dinner.

The night was styled Arnold Palmer Bobblehead Night at PNC Park and was the first time Mr. Palmer has been honored with a bobblehead created in his likeness.

Mr. Palmer couldn’t stop grinning as he walked to the mound. Sometime before or during his build-up, he had made a switch and threw a golf ball, not a baseball, to Jim Rohr, the chief executive officer of PNC Bank. After a laugh from Palmer and the other on-field celebrities, Palmer threw a real baseball for his second pitch.

From left: Sam Saunders, Amy Grant and Palmer with Kit

CBS announcer Jim Nantz emceed the ceremonial first pitch, which actually delayed the start of the game by 11 minutes. Surprisingly, it was the first time Mr. Palmer had ever thrown out a first pitch. “I feel a little slow,” he said. “Eighty miles-an-hour is about all I can get.”

That evening, eighty was certainly a popular number. There were nine chairs set up near the home plate, all draped with Pirates’ jerseys bearing the number ‘80’ and the name ‘Palmer’ on the back. The King eventually put one on.

Then came an unusual golf contest. The Pirates’ mascot, the Parrot, stood centerfield with a flagstick as three celebrities took aim from the home plate with wedges. Broadcaster Steve Blass and the Pirates’ current pitcher Paul Maholm were aiming for a small circle where the Parrot was stationed. They got three tries each and came relatively close. Then former PGA Tour winner and Ryder Cup player Peter Jacobsen, a long-time friend of Mr. Palmer’s, took dead aim and bounced a low, looping shot off the Parrot’s posterior, winning $5,000 for charity and earning a hearty round of applause.

A video was played on the stadium scoreboard, narrated by Nantz and featuring grainy black-and-white footage of highlights from Mr. Palmer’s playing career.

Mr. Palmer also received a proclamation from Pittsburgh city officials declaring it “Arnold Palmer 80th Birthday Day” but the most significant moment of the evening came when Rohr made a surprise announcement that PNC would donate $1 million in Mr. Palmer’s name to the Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital.

The 17,000-plus crowd then watched the Cubs start the game with eight consecutive hits and seven runs in the top of the first inning. When that marathon finally ended and the Pirates came to bat, the Parrot approached Mr. Palmer in his box seats with a cake, and Blass led the stadium in a brief rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

“It’s great to be in Pittsburgh,” said Mr. Palmer who revealed he had been in attendance at old Forbes Field when the Pirates’ Bill Mazeroski hit his famous Game 7-winning home run to beat the New York Yankees in the 1960 World Series.

The Pittsburgh Steelers also invited Mr. Palmer to celebrate with them as well on Thursday night when they kicked off their NFL season against Tennessee Titans, but he simply had too many other activities already scheduled.

On the Wednesday, the day before he turned 80, Mr. Palmer participated in a golf outing and dinner in his honor at Laurel Valley Golf Club where he captained the United States Ryder Cup team to a memorable victory over Great Britain & Ireland in 1975.

And to celebrate his actual birthday when it finally arrived on September 10? Mr. Palmer and some of his closest friends teed it up at the course where he grew up and which he now owns—Latrobe Country Club.

Understandably, Mr. Palmer’s landmark birthday was the subject of more than eight hours of programming by the Golf Channel, which he helped to found some 15 years ago.

“As a founding father of Golf Channel, Arnold Palmer’s contributions to the growth of the sport and our company are innumerous,” Golf Channel president Page Thompson said. “His imprint can be found in every aspect of our Channel, and we are very proud to carry on the traditions of excellence he established.”

From left: Mr and Mrs Larsen, Palmer with his two daughters and Doc with Brad Faxon

The network’s website, GolfChannel.com, ran a host of editorial pages featuring trivia, photography, anecdotes and tributes and during the week of his birthday senior writers Rex Hoggard and Randall Mell respectively examined his career from a player’s perspective and his love affair with the camera as he helped to expand golf’s popularity through the medium of sports television.

One of the programs shown was Playing Lessons From The Pros: Palmer and Saunders in which Mr. Palmer was joined by his grandson Sam Saunders, the 2004 Florida state high school champion, for a round at Bay Hill Club and Lodge.

In an interview shortly afterwards, Mr. Palmer told CNN that he hopes to play for another ten years. “I still love playing,” he said. “I get out and I like to hit the golf ball and I would like to be playing at 90, although I’m a little disappointed right now with my game. I’m not hitting the ball now very far and that is the one thing that is kind of holding me back from playing more golf [socially].

“I’m working on building a little muscle and hitting the ball a little further, but without a great deal of success right now.”

And after displaying astonishing stamina throughout this uplifting array of celebrations and tributes, who would bet against Arnold Palmer at 80 finding an extra few yards off the tee in 2010?