Arnold Palmer stamp to debut in Florida, disappointing some in his native Latrobe

Wednesday will be a banner day for fans of professional golf and for those who have a connection to Latrobe.

One of the town’s favorite sons — the late Arnold Palmer, known as “The King” of the Game of Kings — will be recognized with a “Forever” First Class U.S. Postal Service stamp issued in his honor.

But there’s one major hitch for the members of Arnie’s Army in Latrobe: The First Day of Issue ceremony will be held at his Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Fla., in conjunction with the opening of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Golf Tournament.

Hometown fans still should be able to buy the Palmer stamp beginning Wednesday at the Latrobe post office, which has ordered 80,000 of the 25 million stamps printed. The stamps will be sold in sheets of 20, totaling $11 at the current first-class rate of 55 cents per stamp.

The “Forever” designation means the stamps will remain sufficient for mailing a first-class letter, even if the postage price continues to rise.

The Postal Service authorized a special cancellation mark featuring an image of Palmer’s signature and his trademark umbrella logo, but it won’t be available Wednesday at the Latrobe post office, according to Jill Walters, a spokeswoman for the service’s Western Pennsylvania District. She said details for any future “postmark events” have yet to be confirmed.

Also to be firmed up is a proposal to have a “hometown reveal” event for the Palmer stamp at a later date in Latrobe, according to local Postmaster Bill Smith.

For some residents, that would be too late to make up for Latrobe being passed over for Wednesday’s kickoff.

“It should be here,” Latrobe native and Unity resident Fran Brasile said. “Latrobe is where he grew up.”

Brasile, 55, recalled working at Palmer’s Latrobe Country Club in Unity and remembered the golfing legend as a strict boss who demanded respect from employees. But he noted Palmer’s rapport with his fans was unmatched in the sport.

“He’d never shun the fans,” Brasile said. “He would shake your hand and sign everybody’s autograph. He’d spend hours.”

Other locals are simply glad Palmer is getting the Postal Service’s stamp of approval, regardless of the ceremony’s details.

“He deserves it,” said Unity resident Julie Hunter, 62, who likes to play golf and enjoyed watching Palmer in action in televised tournaments.

The stamp is “a perfect idea,” according to Bob Frisky, who recalled friendly games of poker with Palmer at the Latrobe Elks club.

“He deserves anything he can get,” said Frisky, 89. “He was a good guy, very easygoing, always smiling and laughing no matter what the incident was.

“He was somebody who, if he’d see two guys arguing between them, he would step in and stop the argument.”

Briana Tomack, president of the Greater Latrobe-Laurel Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, is hopeful a follow-up event for the Palmer stamp will come together in Latrobe. She pointed out it is the third stamp commemorating a town icon issued in the space of a few years.

“How amazing is that?” she remarked to a recent visitor at the chamber office in downtown Latrobe.

But, as with the Palmer stamp, neither of the previous two stamps of local interest had an official Latrobe debut.

The first such stamp depicted a banana split dessert, said to have been invented in 1904 at a Latrobe soda fountain. That stamp was officially introduced on June 30, 2016, in a historic Tennessee soda shop, as part of a set of five “Soda Fountain Favorites” stamps each depicting a different treat. A stamp ceremony in Latrobe, featuring a special cancellation mark, followed on July 21 of that year.

Latrobe native Fred Rogers, in his role as host of the beloved “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” children’s television show, was honored with a Forever stamp issued March 23, 2018. That ceremony took place in the studio at Pittsburgh’s WQED-TV, where Rogers created the show.

With a smaller print run of 12 million stamps, the Rogers sheets of 20 promptly sold out. Priced at the time at $10, each sheet now will fetch about $15, according to stamp dealer Robert Ginther of Irwin.

Time will tell how the value of the Palmer stamps will fare among collectors, but Ginther believes that all such stamps have limited potential as a long-term investment.

He noted a sheet of stamps honoring Pittsburgh Pirates legend Roberto Clemente “was going for $50, but now it’s almost at face value.”

One of the key problems, he said, is the fading market, as younger generations have shown little interest in the hobby.

“Stamp collecting is almost a lost art,” he said.