The Latrobe post office on Wednesday served as an unofficial outpost for “Arnie’s Army,” as area fans filed in to buy newly released Forever stamps issued to honor late local native and golfing legend Arnold Palmer.
By lunchtime, more than 200 of the 20-stamp sheets had been snapped up, at $11 each. Many who purchased the stamps expressed a feeling of connection to Palmer, whether through sharing the same Western Pennsylvania origin or something more.
Craig Adams, 73, of Derry, a 1964 alumnus of Derry Area High School and Army veteran, had an encounter with Palmer when his school golf team played against its Latrobe rival at Palmer’s Latrobe Country Club, near Youngstown.
“One day, Arnie took both teams into his workshop at his house and showed us around, and he signed some autographs,” Adams said. “Back then, he was making some of his own clubs. That’s something you don’t forget.”
It’s been years since Adams swung a club, but he has enjoyed watching Palmer and tunes in for golf tournaments featuring other veteran players. The stamps will join another of his treasured Palmer collectibles — an autographed trading card.
Sandra Woitkowiak, 71, of Latrobe bought two sheets of Palmer stamps, “one to use and one to keep.”
She noted her mother was a crossing guard at the local school attended by Palmer’s children. Before they sold out in 2018, Woitkowiak also purchased a Forever stamp honoring another famous Latrobe native, children’s television host Fred Rogers.
John Amatucci, 47, of Latrobe purchased three sets of Palmer stamps to save for his three children. He noted his kids, ranging in age from 10 to 16, enjoy drinking the iced tea-lemonade combination named for Palmer.
“I have Arnold Palmer stuff throughout the house,” Amatucci said. “I like having anything that pertains to him.” That includes photos he snapped of Palmer during an appearance at Laurel Valley Golf Club and later got the golfer to sign.
Mario Vitale, 56, of Hempfield paid $24.95 to get a commemorative kit that pairs the Palmer stamps with a First Day of Issue envelope and a program replicating one distributed to those attending a debut ceremony for the stamp. That event was held Wednesday at Palmer’s Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Fla., in conjunction with the opening of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Golf Tournament.
Vitale picked up two kits Wednesday morning and returned during his lunch break from sales at Latrobe’s Lehigh Specialty Melting to fill a request for one more.
”I started getting calls saying, ‘We need one more,’ ” he said, explaining the extra kits will go to his sister-in-law and a friend.
“I’m really not a stamp collector, but I’m big on sports,” Vitale said, noting he snagged stamps commemorating Pittsburgh Pirates player Roberto Clemente when he was younger.
“I think Arnold Palmer was not only a great sports figure and native of Latrobe, but really a great humanitarian,” Vitale said. He cited the cancer treatment center named for Palmer and the nature reserve named for his late wife, Winnie, in neighboring Unity Township.
”I think that’s what inspires people about the guy,” Vitale said. “He never forgot where he came from.”
Adams said he understood the reason for having the stamp’s official debut in Florida but was still disappointed there wasn’t a ceremony in Latrobe.
Latrobe Postmaster Bill Smith has said that may happen at a later date.
The Arnold Palmer Invitational “was the ideal location where all of ‘Arnie’s Army’ can buy stamps, celebrate a game they love and a ‘life well played,’” according to Jill Walters, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service’s Western Pennsylvania District, who stopped in to check out the stamp’s Latrobe sales.
