Arnie and Company

You always wonder when you meet someone with the same last name as a famous athlete or entertainer, what they’ll be like. Will the descendants be as good as their predecessors?
Usually they aren’t.
Often it works out the way it did with Julian Lennon — OK, but not the same.
Then there’s Sam Saunders, grandson of Arnold Palmer. I met him at Willow Creek Country Club, Wednesday evening, and he was pretty much what I hoped he would be.
He wasn’t as charismatic as Arnie, and he probably won’t be as successful, but that’s OK. He didn’t get off the course until well after 7 p.m. He had forgot he had an interview to do, yet came back to the clubhouse after a p.r. official ran him down as he was climbing into his car.
Saunders was friendly and honest, and I found myself liking him.
A lot of what he said will be in my column in Friday’s Deseret News. But a part I couldn’t fit in (due to space restrictions) was when I asked if he had ever talked of greatness with his grandfather.
Saunders said: “He’s not a very in depth person with me. His wording is limited but to the point. But he doesn’t sit and tell me how good he was. That’s not his way.”
I didn’t take that to mean he disliked his grandfather. In fact, Saunders was obviously fond of him. But the interview did bring out a media and public factoid: They usually want everything neatly tied up. They want Saunders to have trained for years under his grandfather, learned from him, talked heart-to-heart with him and followed his every move. Instead, Saunders pointed out a practical reality: Palmer was gone a lot. So it’s not like they got a ton of chances to sit on a dock, dangle their toes in the water, and talk about whatever.
Most of the time, they were just taking care of their responsibilities and connecting when they could.
Isn’t that how it is with most of us — famous or not?