Barbara Nicklaus to receive PGA of America Distinguished Service Award
Barbara Nicklaus has done a lifetime of good as part of the golf community, and she will rightfully receive the PGA of America Distinguished Service Award this fall.
Barbara Nicklaus, who has never proclaimed to be much of a golfer, although she did play in the PGA Tour Wives golf tournament a few times, has just been named the recipient of the 2019 PGA of America Distinguished Service Award. The ceremony is to be November 5th at the PGA of America annual meeting.
The announcement called her one of the “most successful ambassadors and admired advocates for healthcare of future generations.” Then they mentioned she was also married to Jack Nicklaus.
“Barbara Nicklaus exemplifies what the words ‘giving back’ truly mean,” said PGA President Suzy Whaley in a statement released by the PGA of America. “From the platform of golf, her unlimited energy and passion for serving as a philanthropist has offered hope and a pathway to vital healthcare for countless children.”
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Nicklaus said she was speechless when Whaley called to let her know about the award.
"“Jack and I could never give back as much as we have been blessed to receive from this amazing game,” she said in a statement sent by the PGA. “The PGA of America has been and is the ‘heart and soul’ of the game of golf. I am so honored, so touched and so very proud to receive this phenomenal award.”"
Barbara Nicklaus became involved in healthcare very early in her life, as a pre-nursing student at Ohio State. It was there that she accidentally met her future husband while walking to class one day.
Eventually they married, and in the early years of Jack’s golf career, the couple lived in the Columbus, Ohio, area. While they were there, children’s healthcare became an up-close-and-personal experience for them after they made several frantic emergency visits to Columbus Children’s Hospital with their daughter Nan who would suddenly have breathing problems.
Finally, it was discovered by one of the hospital staff that Nan had a piece of a crayon stuck in her throat, and that the crayon was the culprit. Since then, the Nicklaus family members have been very strong advocates for pediatric healthcare.
Today, the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation supports the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus (formerly Children’s Hospital) as well as the Nicklaus Children’s Healthcare Foundation in South Florida. Charitable contributions from both The Memorial Tournament and the Honda Classic as well as other events and charitable giving programs go to those healthcare entities.
Barbara Nicklaus is the third woman to be honored with the PGA of America Distinguished Service Award. Patty Berg, one of the founders of the LPGA, received it in 1995. Debi Rolfing was co-honored with her husband, NBC’s Mark Rolfing, in 2017 for their work in fostering newborn children until adoptive parents can be found for them.
Barbara Nicklaus also received the PGA First Lady of Golf Award in 1998.
Anyone who has ever met Barbara Nicklaus will tell you the best words to describe her are gracious, kind and thoughtful. Helping charities is just a part of her personality. She was born to do it and has raised millions of charity dollars in many locations all over the US, but particularly in Ohio and Florida.
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If you’d like to help out the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation, you can donate $250 and receive a “Bear” or buy the Nicklaus cookbook with stories and family recipes ($45), the proceeds of which go to the foundation.