By Bob Denney, PGA of America Historian

Many of golf’s legendary Major Champions have hoisted the 27-pound silver Wanamaker Trophy that pays tribute to its namesake, Rodman Wanamaker, at the PGA Championship. In much the same fashion, the country’s foremost track stars also have broken the tape in Madison Square Garden in the legendary event that he founded – the Millrose Games.

Wanamaker’s masterful contributions can still be seen on both sides of the Atlantic, as Great Britain’s royals have used in coronations, weddings and funeral marches a jeweled processional cross that he donated. And, it was Wanamaker who expanded public consciousness of the vanishing culture of the American Indian through innovative photographic expeditions.

Rodman Wanamaker also funded early expeditions to the North Pole and elsewhere; and was a pioneer in aeronautics, having built the first multi-engine plane to fly across the Atlantic – flown by Admiral Richard Byrd a month after a young aviator named Charles Lindbergh accomplished the feat with his solo flight.

On January 17, 1916, Wanamaker sponsored a luncheon inviting prominent professional and amateur golfers at the invitation of his business group, the Taplow Club, in his New York City department store. Had Wanamaker not demonstrated his interest, it is unlikely that the Professional Golfers’ Association of America would have begun in earnest.

Lewis Rodman Wanamaker was the catalyst for all of the above and much more because he was able to both live out his dreams and help fund others.

An 1886 graduate of Princeton University, Wanamaker preferred to remain in his famed father’s shadow and made a conscious effort to shun the glare of media. Following the mold of his father’s highly successful Wanamaker department store in Philadelphia, Rodman made the New York store on 9th Street and Broadway an unqualified success.

He did accept an appointment as Special Deputy Police Commissioner in New York City during World War I and greeted distinguished guests from around the world. But, for most of his life, Wanamaker preferred to let his philanthropic endeavors, through intermediaries, make the loudest statement.

Wanamaker’s enthusiasm to provide recreational opportunities for employees of his New York store was integral in the development of the Millrose Athletic Association. The membership later opened to the public and became an avenue to promote American amateur athletics. In 1908, he founded the Wanamaker-Millrose Games, with “Millrose” the name of Rodman’s beloved country estate near Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.

It was during the games that Wanamaker helped popularize another tradition – the playing of the “Star Spangled Banner” at a sporting event.

Wanamaker purchased more war bonds during World War I than anyone else, putting his enormous wealth at the disposal of his country. All the while, he helped finance military stations in the United States, along with allied hospitals, refuges and clubs in France. As well, he donated and commissioned the Eternal Light War Memorial to honor America’s fallen heroes in Madison Square in Manhattan.

He even commissioned architect Addison Mizner to build “La Guerida” (“Bounty of War”) on the oceanfront of Palm Beach, Florida.

Wanamaker’s final years were those of physical suffering, as he was stricken with uremia, a kidney disease. Following his death in 1928, his Palm Beach home was sold to Joseph and Rose Kennedy. “La Guerida” would later become the “Winter White House” for their son, President John F. Kennedy.

For his contributions toward international amity, Wanamaker was decorated by many nations, especially his beloved France. The country presented him three times with the Legion of Honor, which was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, for eminent service to the Republic of France.

Wanamaker is buried in a mausoleum in the St. James the Less Episcopal Cemetery in Philadelphia. During the summer following his death, France paid homage to its longtime friend by sending three distinguished journalists with a bronze urn for his tomb.

The urn is split into three compartments, containing earth from three sites in France associated with American history: the grave of Lafayette at Picus cemetery in Paris; the spot where the first Americans fell in World War I near Luneville; and the Ver-sur-Mer, where Commander Byrd had landed the Wanamaker-sponsored airplane, “America.”