At first Arnie’s Army, as Palmer’s fans were called, treated Nicklaus as the enemy. Golf is a notably polite sport, but Palmer’s fans cheered every Nicklaus misstep when the two golfers went head-to-head at the 1962 U.S. Open. The 22-year-old Nicklaus still defeated Palmer in an 18-hole playoff for his first victory as a professional.

But despite their on-course rivalry, Nicklaus and Palmer built a personal friendship that would last a lifetime. “Did Arnie and I agree on everything? No, we had some differences,” Nicklaus said in an interview long after their playing days were long over. “But I will promise that if I ever had a problem, Arnold Palmer has always been there for me and vice versa.”

The warmth between the two men comes through in a photo taken by LIFE’s Francis Miller back in 1963, in which Nicklaus and Palmer shared a laugh. That image of camaraderie is one of the most popular photos in LIFE’s online print store.

That photo was among the many MIller took at the 1963 edition of the World Series of Golf, a tournament that had been founded the year before and pitted the winners of golf’s four major championships against each other for 36 holes. Because Nicklaus had won two of the four majors that year—the others were taken by Julius Boros and Bob Charles—that left a slot open in the tournament’s foursome, which Palmer earned through a playoff.

Miller’s photos from that tournament, played in Akron, Ohio, capture golf at a relatively casual time. Players sat on their bags while waiting for the other to hit, something that doesn’t happen any more. When Nicklaus won the tournament, he was handed a normal-sized check, rather than the oversized versions that were designed for television and photo ops (though Miller’s shot of Nicklaus posing with his regular check is pretty funny).

Nicklaus’ win in the 1963 World Series of Golf confirmed his status as an ascendant star. Palmer would win the 1964 Masters and battle Nicklaus for the rest of the decade. But while Nicklaus gained the upped hand on the course, Palmer remained a deeply beloved figure. The graciousness with which he handled the rise of Nicklaus, so evident in Miller’s photo, gives a sense of Palmer’s abundant charms.

Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus, following through on his swing, and Arnold Palmer (left) at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Arnold Palmer watched while Jack Nicklaus putted at the 1963 World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio.

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Jack Nicklaus (putting) and Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

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Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

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Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus (putting) and Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

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Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

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The scoreboard at the 36-hole World Series of Golf in 1963; Jack Nicklaus would end up winning by one stroke over Julius Boros.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The scoreboard at the 36-hole World Series of Golf in 1963; Jack Nicklaus would end up winning by one stroke over Julius Boros.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus took the $50,000 first prize at the 1963 World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Arnie and Jack: The Best of Rivals appeared first on LIFE.

The ear-pulling was captured by an Associated Press photographer, and plenty of dog lovers became upset at the President. At this link you can see the photo, as well as audio of Johnson talking about how a senator brought up the ear-pulling during negotiations with Congress over the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

After that incident Johnson’s beagles soon appeared on the cover of LIFE’s June 19, 1964 issue. The story aimed to show that, despite the ear-pulling incident, Her and Him were enjoying life under the Johnson Administration. “Not many dogs have been privileged to shoo birds off the White House lawn, get underfoot at a cabinet meeting or mingle with dignitaries at a State Ball,” LIFE wrote. “Certainly no dogs in all the world have the Bouquet Room as their private boudoir.”

LIFE staff photographer Francis Miller was given great access to Him and Her, and he came to the White House prepared to make the most of it. An animal lover himself, Miller brought a full assortment of treats and amusements to get the beagles on his side. Here’s how LIFE described the shoot:

Too wise in the ways of puppies to believe that affection alone would produce good photographs, Miller stretched himself out on the White House lawn, alternately barked like a dog, tossed a bone in the air, plied the beagles with his Yummies, huffed into the harmonica and joggled the toy bird in his left hand. This left him free to shoot the cover with his right hand and his right eye.

The story stated that Him and Her were primarily the pets of LBJ’s daughter Luci, who was 16 years old at the time. And she was not the beagles’ only caretaker. Miller took several photos of the dogs in the company of Thraphes Bryant, who in addition to being the White House electrician helped look after the dogs.

The affection between Bryant and the beagles was clear in Miller’s photos. And Bryant tended to many First Dogs during his career. He would write a memoir about it, titled “Dog Days at the White House: The Outrageous Memoirs of the Presidential Kennel Keeper.”

President Lyndon B. Johnson’s pet beagles, Him and Her, on the White House lawn, 1964.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Him and Her, pet Beagles of President Lyndon B. Johnson, sitting together on lawn of White House, 1964.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Him and Her, pet Beagles of President Lyndon B. Johnson, in a White House sitting room, 1964.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

President Lyndon B. Johnson, along with his daughter Luci Baines Johnson (left) and her friend Warri Lynn Smith (center), played with the family beagles, 1964.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

President Lyndon B Johnson’s beagles at the White House, 1964.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lyndon Johnson’s beagles, Him and Her, at the White House, 1964.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Him and Her, the beagles belonging to the Lyndon B. Johnson family, made sport of an old overshoe in the White House living quarters, 1964.

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Lyndon Johnson’s beagles, Him and Her, at the White House, 1964.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Thraphes Bryant, in addition to being White House electrician, helped care for the beagles of Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

White House electrician Thraphes Bryant helped care for LBJ’s beagles, 1964.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Thraphes Bryant, in addition to being White House electrician, helped care for the beagles of Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE photographer Francis Miller took photos of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s beagles, Him and Her, on the White House lawn, 1964.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post The First Beagles Whose Ears LBJ Just Had to Tug appeared first on LIFE.

In 1960 Hadl was gone but Lawrence was still rolling over the competition when LIFE came to visit. Lawrence was on a 45-game winning streak, the longest in the country at the time, and LIFE thought it was a big enough of a deal that the magazine sent two photographers, Grey Villet and Francis Miller, to capture life in and around the team.

The team had been so good for so long that their coach wondered if they might stop listening to him. “I can’t scare them anymore,” coach Al Woolard told LIFE. “How do you preach fear to boys who have never lost a game?”

Judging from the photos, though, Woolard’s ship was plenty tight. Being a Chesty Lion—that was the school’s nickname—meant not only hitting the gridiron but attending regular Bible study meetings. And while the rock-and-roll look was taking root around the country, it had no place in the Lawrence locker room. The coach told his players, “You can wear a ducktail haircut or play football, but not both.”

Before games Woolard had his players lay down on mats in the gym and meditate: “I ask them to think deep down about what they can offer, and if they will pay the price.”

Whatever price they paid, they were rewarded for it. In 1960 Lawrence not only won the state title but was one of two schools that year recognized as a mythical national championship by the awarding organizations. The win streak would be broken the next season, but the Lions would bounce back with three consecutive state championships in 1962, ’63 and ’64.

Lawrence High School football, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Lawrence (Kan.) High School football team warmed up, 1960.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lawrence High School football, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lawrence High School football, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Members of the band and the pep squad at Lawrence (Kan.) High School ran back to the building after a practice, 1960.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Senior Carol Albers invited football star Chuck Bowen to a party, Lawrence, Kansas, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bob Kimball, the second-leading scorer on the Lawrence (Kan.) High School football team, spoke with friend Janice Salisbury, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lawrence (Kan.) High School cheerleaders, 1960.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Members of the Lawrence High football team at a Bible class, 1960.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Lawrence (Kan.) High School football team, on its way to an undefeated season and a state and national championship, meditated before a game, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Football coach Al Woolard addressed his team at Lawrence (Kan.) High, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lawrence High School football, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lawrence High School football, 1960.

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Lawrence High School football, 1960.

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Chuck Bowen, the leading scorer on the Lawrence (Kan.) High football team, watched his coach review plays during halftime of a game, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lawrence High School football, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Fans watched the Lawrence (Kan.) High school football team, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lawrence High School football, 1960.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Simply the Best: Kansas High School Football, 1960 appeared first on LIFE.

The Wolverine football program was a big deal then as it is now—in 1949 they were defending national champions—and the team was already using its signature winged helmet design. But otherwise, these pictures look like they could come from a high school practice, given how refreshingly small in scale the Michigan football operation was then. The players themselves are also relatively small in scale, as this was the days before dietary and training methods turned players into behemoths.

Miller’s most fun image was a composite photograph that illustrated Michigan’s signature play at the time, which LIFE called the “Michigan spinner.” The photo combined six different images of fullback Don Dufek in an attempt to show all the options the ballhandler had for either running, handling off to a teammate or throwing a jump pass.

LIFE wrote of the signature play in its Oct. 3, 1949 issue, “There is no great mystery about how the spinner works—the mystery for the opposing team is in trying to locate the ball, which is handed around from back to back. This has led to a favorite Ann Arbor epigram: “Everybody handles the ball at Michigan except the Dean of Agriculture, and he’s at Michigan State.”

Eventually opposing defenses did figure out how to unspin the spinner. In the first game after that issue came out, Michigan had its 25-game winning streak broken as the Wolverines lost to Army 21-7. They would end the season 6-2-1 and 7th in the AP poll.

This composite of six images of fullback Donald Dufek was meant to demonstrate the options available in the “Michigan Spinner,” the signature play of Michigan football in 1949.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michigan football practice, 1949.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michigan football practice, 1949.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michigan football practice, 1949.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michigan football practice, 1949; the heart of the Wolverine offense was a multi-option play called the Michigan Spinner.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michigan football practice, 1949.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michigan football practice, 1949; the heart of the Michigan offense was a play called the “Michigan Spinner” which was loaded with options for running and passing the ball.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michigan football practice, 1949.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michigan football practice, 1949.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michigan football practice, 1949.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michigan football practice, 1949; the team was coached by Wolverines legend Bennie Oosterbaan.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michigan football practice, 1949; the team was coached by Wolverines legend Bennie Oosterbaan.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michigan football backfield stars (left to right) Richard Kempthorn, Leo Koceski, and Charles Ortmann in 1949.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Walter Teninga, running back and kicker for Michigan football, 1949.

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Wally Teninga at a Michigan practice, 1949; that season he would boot a 69-yard punt, throw a touchdown pass, and force and recover a fumble on defense.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michigan football practice, 1949.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Wolverine Football in the Days of the “Michigan Spinner” appeared first on LIFE.

In what may be the most alliterative article ever published in LIFE magazine—”Packers preach their product’s perfection with a peck of publicity,” reads the deck below the headline—an image of Mr. Pickle appears above a description of the activities organized by the National Pickle Packer’s Association:

They invented liquor-flavored pickles, crowned a Pickle Queen amid flaming pickles in a Chicago nightclub, and proclaimed as their Man of the Year Mr. Dill Lamar Pickle of Rolling Fork, Miss., who obligingly posed in a vat of pickles.

As you can see from the photos, the Three Stooges even joined in on the merriment.

From a business standpoint, the week was a success: Pickle sales increased by 22%. From a floating-in-a-vat-of-brined-cucumbers perspective: also a major win.

Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

Mr. Dill Pickle (that’s his name) of Mississippi reclined happily in a rubber boat amid 204,681 soggy pickles.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A giant pickle adorned the front of a car for National Pickle Week, 1949.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Men took a break after stacking barrels of pickles for National Pickle Week, 1949.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A man delivered a presentation on pickles during National Pickle Week, 1949.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Drinking out of a pickle, National Pickle Week, 1949.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman put finishing touches on a gigantic pickle, National Pickle Week, 1949.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Pickle Queen posed with the Three Stooges during National Pickle Week, 1949.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Pickle Queen, National Pickle Week, 1949.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Models showed off pickles for National Pickle Week, 1949.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Group shot with Pickle Queen, the Three Stooges and others during National Pickle Week, 1949.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post The Sweet and Sour of National Pickle Week appeared first on LIFE.

During an earlier solar eclipse in 1960, hundreds of people had suffered permanent eye damage from looking directly at the sun. With help from the Illinois Society for the Prevention of Blindness, Emerson students avoided the same fate by building Sunscopes, pinhole camera-like contraptions that indirectly project an image of the sun. The magazine offered instructions for those wanting to replicate the project at home:

To build your own, get a carton and cut a hole in one side, big enough to poke your head through. Paste white paper on the inside surface that you will be facing. Then punch a pinhole into the opposite side, high enough so that the little shaft of light will miss your head. For a sharper image you can make a better pinhole by cutting a one inch square hole in the carton, taping a piece of aluminum foil over this hole and then making the pinhole in the foil. Finally, tape the box shut and cover all light leaks with black tape.

A final word to the wise from LIFE: “Don’t forget to come out for fresh air.”

Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.

Fifth-graders at the Emerson School in Maywood, Ill. lined up with their backs to the sun, their eclipse-watching boxes over their heads.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At work, building the eclipse-viewing contraption.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In their Maywood, Ill. classroom John Travelstead pasted white paper inside box while Eddie Clemmons tried on the head-hole for size.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A student poked a hole in his sunscope.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The teacher explained how a sunscope works.

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Cutting out a head-sized hole.

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Trying on a sunscope.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

These students all tested their sunscopes at once.

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Heading outside, bearing sunscopes.

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Students with their sunscopes.

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Students with their sunscopes.

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Students and sunscopes all in a row.

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Students and sunscopes all in a row.

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The post Safety First, Fashion Second as Schoolkids View an Eclipse, 1963. appeared first on LIFE.