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Saturday
Oct032009

Remembering Ken Killian

Writing from Chicago
Saturday, October 3, 2009

Ken Killian, one of Chicagoland's most prolific and imaginative course designers, died on September 20, felled by a long bout with cancer. He was 78 years old.

The sad news arrives, albeit well after Killian's death, through the courtesy of Jeff Brauer, who apprenticed with Killian and partner Dick Nugent in the 1970s before opening his own architectural shop. Brauer, upon finding out, immediately posted the news on the golf architecture Web site, www.golfclubatlas.com.

Killian and Nugent were a tandem for close to two decades before they dissolved their partnership. Nugent brought son Tim into the business and Ken Killian went solo, with Brauer his assistant for a year, continuing to create golf courses that people wanted to play more than once.

Brauer recalled fondly his working for Killian:

"Professionally, he was as influential to me as my own father was personally," Brauer wrote. "It’s a tribute to him that 32 years after starting to work with him, I still find myself quoting or paraphrasing things he said to me to clients, employees and others. I also draw plans, think design, and run the office in ways very similar to the old Killian and Nugent days. Even as I try to change my style to keep fresh, I find that after much thought, the design lessons they taught me still apply.

"Ken often said that doing one green at club for a modest price probably did more for golf than building a high end tournament course and I keep that with me until this day. To him, there were no 'bad,' 'too small,' or 'underfunded' golf design projects. There were only opportunities to make golfers happier. When I was assigned the Lake Arrowhead project in Nekoosa, Wis., while Bob Lohmann got the 'better' George Dunne project, with its higher budget, I was grousing about it a bit. Ken asked me, 'What’s stopping you from making it a great project?' It's true – a good design is not necessarily money dependent, it's designer dependent.

"I spent six years at Killian and Nugent, and one year with Ken before going on my own, with his blessing (provided I move far, far away, partially explaining why I am a Texan). I have many fond memories of the work environment and 'moments' that occurred. I paired up with Ken more often for projects than with Dick and I was working with Ken on projects at the time of the split, which is why I ended up with him for a year. I think Ken did a little bit better job of putting up with my constant flow of 'design ideas' than Dick did! In that partnership, I viewed Ken as slightly more artistic, and Dick as slightly more practical."

As you may have gotten from Brauer's words, Ken Killian was a fun guy to be around. He laughed easily and often, and, on the few occasions our paths crossed, was always ready to talk golf. He was one of the good ones.

Here's more from Jeff Brauer on Killian's off-the-course adventures:

"His cars, always Cadillacs … had tendencies to catch on fire. It happened three times that I know of. I was with him once when smoke started pouring out of the engine compartment. He pulled into a gas station (they actually had service bays back in those days) which was a natural reaction for him, but as he turned in, they were waving us off like a we were making a bad approach on a carrier landing, wanting nothing to do with his burning car near their gas pumps!

"Ken was always fun. He still skied, golfed, horseback rode, etc., when many would be slowing down. He had a bad back (from skiing, I think) and we once played golf at Innisbrook, with him wearing a brace. He hit one in the water, and then repeatedly dropped and tried the shot again. The hook on his back brace caught in his shirt, and by the time he finally hit the green, his shirt was in shreds!

"At times, that flexibility would border on indecisiveness. When we were working for Jim Colbert in Las Vegas, mild mannered Ken came home with a tooth out. He brought an article in the Las Vegas paper about a fight started when an 'amateurish' blackjack player slowly made the decision to draw a card, even though he sat at 18. That angered another player (more that he drew with an 18, going over 21 and costing him a good card), starting a fight. Pointing at the article, Ken said, 'Yeah that was me!'

Well known from Ken Killian's portfolio are some of the courses from his partnership with Dick Nugent, including Kemper Lakes in Hawthorn Woods, which hosted the 1989 PGA Championship, and George Dunne (nee Forest Preserve) National in Oak Forest, which came soon after and is the flagship of the Cook County Forest Preserve District chain.

Here are but a few of the Chicagoland courses Ken Killian designed after going solo: Chalet Hills (Cary), Chicago Heights Park District East, Steeple Chase (Mundelein), Southmoor at Palos (Orland Park), and Whittaker Woods (New Buffalo, Mich.)

Next time you play one of those, says a little thank you to Ken Killian, or lift a glass to him at the 19th hole. He'll know, and he'll appreciate it.

– Tim Cronin

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