Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player all arrived at The Olde Farm golf club in Bristol, Virginia, on June 7, 2010, to play some golf. Nothing unusual about that, except they would become a part of history—courtesy of Jim McGlothlin.

McGlothlin, founder of The United Company, the owner of The Olde Farm and a 21-year member of the PGA TOUR Golf Course Advisory Board, enlisted the help of the golf legends for a one-day fundraising effort he titled "The Big 3" for Mountain Mission Kids. McGlothlin’s goal was to break the PGA TOUR record for the most money raised in a single day, with all proceeds going to the nearby Mountain Mission School (MMS) for needy and at-risk children.

McGlothlin hoped to surpass the TOUR’s previous mark of $8.5 million raised. By the close of the day, organizers added up the donations and proceeds from ticket sales and auction items (including $6,000 someone paid for the three gloves Palmer, Nicklaus and Player wore during the 19-hole exhibition), and the grand total was $15.1 million (or $15,149,183.98). That shattered the TOUR record and was well over the $12 million McGlothlin had set as his original target amount.

At the check presentation, the school announced it would use $6 million for a new academic building, with the remaining $9.1 million going to MMS’s endowment. McGlothlin smiled widely as he said, “To be able to do this is a testament to the hard work of a lot of dedicated people. It is very rewarding to be able to make this donation to the Mountain Mission School. The work they do there is incredible and is making a huge difference in the lives of many kids.”

McGlothlin, the businessman and philanthropist, died on Aug. 6, 2025. He was 85.

A year after his Mountain Mission School event, McGlothlin was spearheading a major fundraising campaign as co-chair to benefit the First Tee.

“I can say without reservation, the First Tee is a great organization that does a fantastic job," McGlothlin said. "Through training and education and the game of golf, we have managed to give 4.7 million children a better way of life, a change in their lives, core values that they might not have had as they enjoy the wonderful game of golf which embodies all those core values."

“Jim was a tireless champion of children, always looking for ways to improve the lives of kids," said former PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem, who was instrumental in convincing McGlothlin to serve on the TOUR’s Golf Course Advisory Board, starting in 1997.

"He would come up with these incredible fundraising ideas, and because of who he was and who he knew, he was able to accomplish what he set out to do. After the success of the Mountain Mission event, Jim came to me and said there was no reason why the First Tee couldn’t use the same fundraising concept that he developed in Virginia, and that was ultimately what he oversaw on a national level for the First Tee. His whole thing was to not only raise money but raise awareness of what the First Tee is all about. Jim did so much to make the world a better place. He was a tremendous man, and we will miss him.”

Born June 18, 1940, in Grundy, Virginia, where the Mountain Mission School is located, McGlothlin received his undergraduate and law degrees from the College of William & Mary. McGlothlin founded the United Company, based in Blountville, Tennessee, in 1970 as a coal production company. It later diversified its four-state operations into oil and gas exploration services, investment management services and real estate development. He sold the company in 1997 but later repurchased it seven years later.

McGlothlin and his wife Frances later established The McGlothlin Foundation, which supported the Soup Kitchen and Morrison School, both in Bristol, in addition to the Mountain Mission School.

Charitable pursuits were never far from McGlothlin’s mind. Eight years after "The Big 3" event, he organized The American Legends for Mountain Mission Kids, again at The Olde Farm and again with a big fundraising goal. Among the list of PGA TOUR players who participated on Sept. 10, 2018, on what would have been Palmer’s 89th birthday, were Nicklaus, Player, Lee Trevino and Lanny Wadkins, with the LPGA’s Betsy King and Lorena Ochoa also joining. NFL’s Dan Marino and Peyton Manning and the NBA’s Jerry West were there as well.

That one-day golf event raised $56.6 million.