IMG was founded in 1960 in Cleveland, Ohio by Mark McCormack, an American lawyer who spotted the potential for athletes to make large incomes from endorsement in the television age; he signed professional golfers Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus as his first clients who collectively are known as The Big Three.[3] McCormack died in 2003.[4] In 2004 Forstmann Little, led by Theodore J. Forstmann, acquired the company; Forstmann served as chairman and CEO until his death in late 2011.