Arnold Palmer and television were a perfect match. His ascendancy to the top of the golf game came at the same time that people were buying home televisions for the first time and were able to watch sports. Palmer's charismatic showmanship was perfect for the new medium and made him a star. Before long he'd been nicknamed 'The King'.
Possibly golf's first real megastar, Palmer's career lasted for over six decades and yielded 62 PGA Tour titles between 1955 and 1973. He was an inaugural entrant to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. After retirement, he made most of his money designing golf courses, co-creating the Golf Channel, and, bizarrely, licensing his name to the Arnold Palmer line of beverages. That strange iced tea and lemonade drink you can buy in stores was invented by the man himself.