Commentary: Arnie and Me

NBC 7 Sports Producer Mike O'Connor spent just five minutes with Mr. Palmer over three decades ago but his passing hit hard. Here’s why.

This commentary was written by Mike O’Connor, an NBC 7 sports producer and proud Wake Forest University alum.

When I heard the news of Arnold Palmer’s passing, I was at work preparing for our Sunday evening sports show here at NBC 7.

Although I only spent five minutes with Mr. Palmer over three decades ago, his passing hit me hard. Here’s why.

I was a senior at Coronado High School. Like many kids at that time in their life I was anxious about my future, specifically where I would go to college.

My first choice was Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. It was a long way from Coronado but I wanted to go there in the worst way so I applied. To my disappointment, I was not accepted but placed on their waiting list. The enrollment counselor said my prospects were bleak and that it might be best to go ahead and accept other offers.

As luck would have it Mr. Palmer, probably the most famous person ever to attend Wake Forest, was going to be at the Hotel Del Coronado to speak at the national Pennzoil convention.

That Saturday I went up to the hotel and camped out by the restroom near the room where the Pennzoil bigwigs were enjoying their evening. I figured everyone would have to go to the bathroom at one point, so I waited. And I waited.

Sure enough, a few hours later Mr. Palmer walked past me into the restroom. This was my chance. As he was washing up, I approached him.

I introduced myself, explained my situation and my desire to go to Wake Forest.

Mr. Palmer looked me in the eye the whole time, then shook my hand and said, “Michael, you seem like a fine young man…I’ll see what I can do.”

A couple of months passed, I hadn’t heard anything from Wake. I accepted admission to another school and that would be that. It just wasn’t in the cards, or so I thought.

Fast forward to late July, a day I will never forget. The phone rings, I pick up and it is the enrollment counselor from Wake Forest offering me a spot, probably the last spot, in the upcoming freshman class. I was in shock. I asked her how this was possible.

She said someone called Wake Forest on my behalf and asked to speak to the Dean of Admissions. I found out a few years later that person was Mr. Palmer.

A random act of kindness from a stranger changed my life. But in actuality, it wasn’t random at all—that’s how Mr. Palmer lived every day of his life.

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