Self-educated golfer Jack Kidwell grew up in central Ohio and from 1937 until 1971 owned and operated the Beacon Light Golf Course, where he had started as a caddie. In 1943, he married Geraldine "Jerry" Kidwell, and they had four daughters, Sally, Shirley, Kathy, and Jody. He became a Class "A" golf course superintendent, earned life membership status as a Class "A" PGA professional, and was selected by his peers as president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects in 1980. A member of the Ohio Turf Grass Association, he was honored as Man of the Year in 1982, and his accomplishments led to his induction into the Southern Ohio PGA Hall of Fame in 1977 and the Ohio Golf Association Hall of Fame in 1997. Over a sixty-year career, his professional skills, personal philosophy, playing ability, and achievements touched countless lives in and around golf as he designed and renovated more than one hundred golf courses in Ohio during a prolific forty-year architectural career. Once described as the "Johnny Appleseed of golf," he created courses that flowed with the land, were built for the average golfer, and could be enjoyed at an affordable price. His design company, Kidwell and Hurdzan, gave rise to many successful architects and evolved into Hurdzan/Fry Golf Course Design, which went on to design and build courses nationally and internationally. By making golf available to multitudes of golfers, he helped make golf in Ohio a big business, and Hickory Hills stood as an example of his design philosophy and of his leadership in creating the club during its formative years.