Meet Barbara Nicklaus, Palm Beach Gardens area philanthropist and spouse of Jack Nicklaus

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Often in sports and business when talking about someone’s success, you hear about the support system he or she may have. The person behind the person has been a story that has been getting told for ages. But what happens when that person behind the person is so successful in their own right that their accomplishments and life story stand out on their own?

There is a pretty good chance that you know the Nicklaus name. After all, Jack Nicklaus is one of the greatest professional golfers of all time with 18 major championships, 117 professional wins, countless golf course designs including many right here in our community, and even a golf clothing and accessory line.

His wife Barbara has been with him every step of the way. Unlike the spouses of many  athletes though, she has been much more than just a support system for Jack over the years. Barbara has cemented her own legacy, both locally here in South Florida and around the world.

The story of Jack and Barbara Nicklaus begins back in the late 1950s. Despite both growing up in Columbus Ohio, their paths didn’t cross until college when they both attended Ohio State.

“I was walking on campus and I saw this gal on the steps of Mendenhall,” Barbara explained when telling the story of the first time she ever met Jack. “We had these high school sororities back then and I was the president of my sorority and she was the president of hers so I stopped to say hi and she was talking to Jack. She introduced me to Jack and she had to go to class so he walked me to the bacteriology department where I was working to pay for school. Later that night he called me and asked me for a date and we started dating.”

Family has always been a big part of Jack and Barbara’s life. In addition to the five children they have, they also have 22 grandchildren, and recently became great grandparents to three wonderful boys. In fact, it was something that happened to her daughter that led Barbara down the path of wanting to give back.

When she was 11 months old, Jack and Barbara’s daughter Nan would have choking fits. Every time it would happen though, by the time she was able to be seen by a doctor, the issue would stop. After this persisted for a few months, more tests were done where it was determined that the issue stemmed from Nan having inhaled pieces of a blue crayon. To make matters worse, in the process of removing the pieces of crayon, some debris dropped down into her lungs, causing pneumonia.

“Jack and I were sitting there watching her in this oxygen tent,” Barbara explained. “We looked at each other as young parents and said that if we were ever in the position to help others, we wanted it to be children.”

Luckily for Barbara and Jack, Jack’s golf career would afford them the luxury to do exactly that.

“As a whole, golf gives more to charity every year than all the other major sports put together,” Barbara said. “So we are very proud to be a part of that.”

It was golf, and a call from the wife of their minister in Columbus, that helped them start the Play Yellow Campaign, a cause that has been very personal to both Barbara and Jack.

“She calls me up and says – Barbara, Craig is a big fan of Jack and has just been diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma – would Jack ever consider calling Craig,” Barbara explained. “So – I said, of course, he would. Jack called Craig and they struck up a very unusual and wonderful relationship. They talked at least once a week and one Sunday Jack had just won and he called Craig. Craig said ‘do you know why you won today?’ and Craig said it was because he had on his lucky yellow shirt. So, Jack started wearing a “lucky” yellow shirt for Craig on Sundays of tournaments. Unfortunately, we lost Craig in 1971. Fast forward 15 years later and it is Sunday at the ’86 Masters. Jack is kind of rummaging through his suitcase and he pulls out this yellow shirt, and said ‘What do you think?’ I said you absolutely have to wear it in memory and in honor of Craig. He wore the shirt – and- of course, long story short, he won. That was the first time we had ever made the yellow shirt story public and to see where it has grown just makes me cry, it is so fabulous.”

Thanks to that one conversation, the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and the PGA Tour have partnered with Jack and Barbara with the goal of raising $120 million in the next five years for the Children’s Miracle Network hospitals.

Today, through their various charitable organizations, including the Nicklaus Children’s Healthcare Foundation, the Children’s Miracle Network benefits over 170 children’s hospitals throughout the United States and Canada including Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in South Florida and Nationwide Children’s Hospital in their hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Additionally, Nicklaus Children’s was just named the Best Children’s Hospital in Florida.

Even as Barbara and Jack start to enter their later years, there is no evidence of slowing down, at least when it comes to giving back to their local communities both here in the Palm Beach Gardens area and even in Ohio.

Jack and Barbara, through the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation, continue to partner with and be beneficiaries of the Honda Classic every year on the PGA Tour. They also host the Memorial Tournament in Ohio where everyone is encouraged to wear yellow on Sunday of tournament week, just like Craig would have wanted.

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