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Sports Business: Arnold Palmer and His Savvy Agent Set the Bar for Pitchmen

Arnold Palmer was heading to a corporate golf outing in 1971 when Mark McCormack, head of the International Management Group and shepherd of Palmer’s business career, sent him a short note. He reminded his star client to use his charm on the advertising manager for Lincoln-Mercury because they were pursuing a renewal of Palmer’s endorsement deal with that division of Ford Motor.

The executive, Paul Tippitt, “apparently is not a great golf enthusiast,” McCormack wrote, “so any little ‘special attention’ that can be paid to him would I think be very worthwhile.”