At 79, Ken Hyland '69 seems stoked about his 53rd season at the Canton campus sandwiched by 25th Street and Route 62. “I definitely would like, God willing, to go through with this group,” he said. “I tell my wife. ‘I’m going through with this last group.’ She tells me, ‘You say that about every group.’” His office (first one on the right after coming through the front doors of Osborne Hall) is a mini-museum. International golf legend Bernhard Langer smiles from a picture on the wall. Langer has been a guest at Hyland’s home in Marlboro Township. The property includes a six-acre, par-3 golf course with three artificial-turf greens and nine tees arranged to make holes as short as 54 yards and as long as 270.
Stark County has been Hyland’s home for a long time. Early on, he found the county to be full of scratch players. Locals Don Nist, Alex Rotar and Jim McFarren could match him on his best days. Hyland and those three all won Ohio Publinx champions during one stretch (Hyland spent 46 years as Ohio Publinx president). In addition to coaching hundreds of Malone players, Hyland has piloted national teams that competed in Switzerland, Ireland and Japan. Hyland has coached 20 All-Americans at Malone. He led teams to five Christian college national championships and the 2000 NAIA national championship. The program moved to NCAA Division II in 2013-14 and promptly reached the national semifinals.
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