Arnold Palmer was one of the best golfers of all time. But he was also one of the best marketers of all time.
In his lifetime, he earned nearly $7 million on the golf course. Off of it? He made at least 50 times that.
Without Arnold, and his agent Mark McCormack, Michael Jordan -- who often gets credit for being the father of modern day sports marketing -- would never had been Michael Jordan.
Corporate America was ready to turn MJ into what he became because 30 years before Arnie was doing it.