Bruce Ethan Borland
Born: Nov 4, 1958, Peoria, Illinois
Died: Oct 25, 1999 (age 40) Minot, North Dakota
Burial: North Limestone Presbyterian Cemetery, Hanna City, Illinois
A Bartonville native and 1976 Limestone High School graduate, Bruce Borland went on to became a senior golf course designer for Golden Bear International, Jack Nicklaus’ golf course design company, and designed or co-designed 25 courses (according to the Find A Grave bio). One of those courses, Coyote Creek in Bartonville, opened posthumonously in 2000, and is the home course of the Bradley Braves.
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Peoria Journal Star, October 26, 1999, by ANDY KRAVETZ
NORWOOD — Connie Friedrich looked up at the clock in her parents’ kitchen, barely holding back her grief.
Her brother Bruce Borland was supposed to be there by 10 p.m.
Monday. Instead, Borland was presumed killed along with golfer Payne Stewart when the Learjet he was on crashed Monday morning near Mina, S.D. “He had called last night saying he would be here on Monday instead of Thursday,” she said, pausing to wipe her eyes. “There was going to be a lot of hugs and kisses. We do that in this family.”
Borland, 40, of Jupiter, Fla., was apparently among six people killed when their plane lost cabin pressure shortly after taking off for Dallas. The Limestone Community High School graduate was flying with Stewart to Dallas to talk with a developer about building a golf course on an 800-acre plot of land north of Dallas.
“They were flying from Orlando to here and were supposed to be in Dallas at about 11 a.m.,” said a shaken Jeff Blackard of Dallas two hours after the plane went down. “We were going to go out for lunch and then go by helicopter to look at the course.”
Blackard said he recruited Borland to help Stewart, 42, design a signature course after he met the former Peorian last year. Borland worked as a senior designer with Nicklaus Designs — a golf course design firm founded by golfer Jack Nicklaus.
“He was one of the best golf course designers in the country, and he worked for Jack Nicklaus,” Blackard said. “He impressed me so much I wanted him to design my course. “` Borland’s death was not confirmed by federal aviation officials late Monday night, but Friedrich seemed almost certain her younger brother was gone.
“He has a cell phone that he called us from all over the country; if he had known we were looking for him, he would have called,” she said, sadly.
In a statement, Nicklaus expressed grief and shock upon hearing of Borland’s death.
“Bruce Borland has been with me for almost 10 years,” Nicklaus said. “In that time, we have done a lot of golf courses together, we’ve traveled a lot together, and we’ve had a great deal of fun together.
“He was simply a terrific addition to our company, and a good friend,” Nicklaus said. “He was a wonderful husband and father.”
Borland is survived by his wife, Kate, and four children — Daniel, 13, Thomas, 12, Benjamin, 10, and Elizabeth, 8. Ken Borland, Bruce’s father, sat with his wife on a couch in the middle of their home, surrounded by memorabilia brought back by Bruce during his many trips overseas.
“Bruce brought us back that large vase from Singapore,” Ken Borland said, his voice quivering.
The family said their faith in the Lord allowed them to cope with Bruce’s death.
“You want to ask `Why God? ‘ But we have learned to ask `What can we learn from this, God’ ” Ken Borland said, while his wife and Bruce’s mother, Esther, clenched his leg. “We are going to see him again. It’s painful now, but it’s God’s will.”
Borland’s love for the links started at a young age. Fried rich and her sister, Becky Klaus, recalled how their brother would rush to the TV every Saturday morning to watch his hero — Jack Nicklaus.
By high school, the sisters said Borland was working with grasses and imagining golf courses among the undeveloped land adjacent to their house. “Bruce made a putting green right out there,” Klaus said, through a bittersweet grin. “He broke a lot of windows and dinged a lot of cars.”
Ken Borland joked that such behavior didn’t win much favor with the neighbors.
From Limestone, Borland eventually wound up at the University of Illinois, where he majored in landscape architecture. He moved to the Chicago area to be near his wife’s family and got a job designing courses.
In short order, Nicklaus heard of Borland’s uncanny gift for developing challenging courses that were also environmentally friendly, and for the past 10 years, Borland traveled all over the world for Nicklaus.
Friedrich described her younger brother as a good family man and a man who had faith and love for the Lord.
“He had a very full schedule, but he always took time out to be with his family,” she said. “Bruce got to see a lot of places that I had to look up on a map to see where they were.”
Borland was coming to Peoria to talk with Steve Chitwood, the developer of Coyote Creek Golf Course. He was hired earlier this year to design the 18-hole public course and 34-lot upscale subdivision on 160 acres of undulating farmland at Cameron Lane and Lancaster Road in Peoria County.
Doug Klaus, Becky’s husband, stood in Bruce’s old room, on the second floor of the family’s two-story brick house. He looked around, slowly turning to gaze at the wood paneling — the room is affectionately called the Knotting Pine room.
“There’s a lot of memories in this room,” he said, grasping for words to convey his grief. “I’ve never lost anyone this close before.
https://www.findagrave.com/…/133058114/bruce-ethan-borland
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/…/fl-xpm-1999-10-27…
https://en.wikipedia.org/…/1999_South_Dakota_Learjet_crash
