Milfred Jerome Palmer – the father of one of golf’s iconic figures – came by his nickname of Deacon early in life, when he was just a grade-schooler.
In his recollection of the incident, Milfred stood up against some people in a neighboring town who were giving an older African American named Deacon Thompson “a rough time.” Whether it was supposed to be derisive or a compliment, the name – commonly shortened to “Deke” – stuck as exemplary of how deacons take care of others in their communities.
“Pap had a set of principles that he lived by and believed in,” said Arnold, his oldest son. “He just treated others like they liked to be treated. I guess I heard him say that more than anything else.”
As his illustrious son often put it, Deacon Palmer simply wanted to be remembered as a caretaker of the game. Deacon’s reserved personality made it unlikely that he would have uttered those words about himself.
Although Deacon’s stewardship involved just one golf course, its role in Arnold Palmer’s development has earned Latrobe (Pa.) Country Club revered status among golfers. For a half-century, from 1926 until his death in 1976, Deacon served as the superintendent at Latrobe, nestled at the edge of the Allegheny Mountains, 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh in the heart of western Pennsylvania. He shepherded the course even before it opened, having worked on the construction crew that began building the original nine-hole layout in 1921.
Deacon was born in 1904, when golf courses were a rare commodity in western Pennsylvania or anywhere in the country. Yet before Arnold came along in 1929, eventually creating a golf boom of his own, Deacon joined the vanguard of native-born greenkeepers and club professionals who helped advance the game in America in the 20th century. He added the duties of Latrobe’s head professional in 1932 and taught his son the game, starting when Arnie was age 4.
Along with the nickname that lasted a lifetime, another early influence on Deacon was the childhood polio that left him with a deformed foot and noticeable limp, requiring a lifelong dependence on leg braces for support. As a result, Deacon strengthened his upper body – Arnold recalled his father being able to do more than 10 one-armed chin-ups with either arm – and developed a quiet and unyielding work ethic that overcame any perception of disability, whether in his own mind or that of others.
His religious-sounding nickname notwithstanding, Deacon wasn’t exactly the church-going type. “Don’t be upset that your father doesn’t always go to church with you,” his daughter Lois Jean recalled a local priest saying. “If every man believed as strongly as he does – and practiced beliefs as well as he does – this would be a better world to live in.”
Deacon, Doris and their four children lived in a humble house next to the present-day fifth tee at Latrobe Country Club, where everything revolved around golf. That influence continued when younger son Jerry took the reins as the superintendent and later general manager at Latrobe.
“We ate, slept and totally lived golf,” said Lois Jean. “I grew up thinking everyone lived golf.”
Bill Adams, one of Deacon’s laborers at Latrobe in the 1960s and later a member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, recalled, “Deke was pretty much a self-taught man, although he attended seminars and conferences at Penn State.
“I remember when I was fresh out of Penn State and thought I knew everything there was to know about turfgrass maintenance,” said Adams. “[Deke] would just evaluate everything from a common-sense point of view.”
One of Deacon’s proudest achievements was converting Latrobe from its original nine holes to a testing 18-hole course that debuted in July 1964, a collaborative design effort with Arnold.
Consider the significance of that date. In April 1964 Arnold had won the Masters for the fourth and final time. It was his seventh and last major professional victory, to go along with his win in the 1954 U.S. Amateur. That means Arnold Palmer became Arnold Palmer playing out of a nine-hole course, without a practice area.
Arnold served as the caddie master at Latrobe for a time as a child, and was not much of an assistant pro. In fact, his father fired him for playing too much golf and not minding the shop – though Arnold made good on that debt in 1971 when he purchased Latrobe C.C. outright. From son of the greenkeeper to owner of the club in a matter of a generation: Arnold Palmer lived an American life.
Not only did Arnold grow up to be golf’s most popular player and revolutionize the business of sports, he was also the first player to win the USGA’s Amateur, Open and Senior Open championships.
In 2016, the year he died at age 87, Arnold wrote, “I suppose, in the final accounting of it all, what I really am inescapably and how I prefer to be thought of in terms of my legacy – is a caretaker of the game, just the way my father was before me.”
As long as golf is played in America, Deacon Palmer will be remembered as someone who cared for the game.
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