Bleile was a driving force behind Eagle Creek

NORWALK — Heritage Park at Eagle Creek will have two new members in 2021 as members and guests celebrate 100 years of golf at the New State Road course. Ken Bleile, one of the four driving forces that 16 years ago who turned the 9-hole course to one of the finest 18-hole courses in the Midwest, will be this year's inductee. Joining him, posthumously, will be the 2020 board selection, Dr. James D. Coupland, a active member of the original 9-hole course back in the 1920s. The induction ceremony on the afternoon of July 31 will be held in front of the park monuments just off No. 12 tee. The celebration will start at 3:30 p.m. with the presentation of Bleile by his son, Travis. Coupland will be presented by Heritage Committee board member and historian Dale Casper. Short remarks will also be made by other board officers. A 9-hole shamble-format golf tournament will follow with a shotgun start. Tournament winners will be announced shortly after the event, followed by dinner. The popular Divots Band will take center stage at 6:30. At or about 9:30 there will be a fireworks show put on by Zambelli Internationale. The celebration is open to the public. The fee for golf, proximity and hole-in-one prizes, Cameo Pizza party, games for the kids, live music and fireworks is $75 per person. Non-golfers can attend the dinner and festivities for $30. For more information on the event, contact the Eagle Creek pro shop at 419-668-8535. The deadline to sign up is Wednesday. Ken Bleile Ken Bleile was born to work. His work ethics mirror that of his father, Bob, as well as his grandfather, Paul. It was Ken's drive, along with that of now-retired Director of Golf Gary Wilkins, that would eventually turn a nine-hole golf course into a 5-star, 18-hole layout almost 20 years ago. Bleile is the managing partner and president of Norwalk Golf Properties — 14 investors who actually own Eagle Creek. He also is a major player with the family business, Lake Erie Construction, where he is part-owner and corporate secretary. He has been with the firm for 40 years, starting just days after he graduated in 1982 with a business management degree from the University of Cincinnati. At that time it was still the Paul E. Bleile Company. The 61-year-old businessman wrote the first safety program for the firm. He remains in that position to this day. He oversees 130 employees. Eighteen crews leave the parking lot on Monday morning, working on as many as 40 job sites across the state of Ohio. A member of the Fraternal Order of Elks for 29 years, Bleile, along with his father, Robert, started negotiations in the early 1990s with an adjoining property-owner to the north, Mark Schaffer, on the possibility of buying the land and expanding the course, using those 150 acres to make it 18 holes. It was also believed by the group that the Bailey Farm to the west was also needed. Negotiations broke down several times over the next 16 months. It got to the point that the group started looking elsewhere for property. But, during the winter of 1995, all parties sat down and hashed out a workable agreement. Once ground was broken, it took 364 days to build a golf course that would open on July 16, 2016. Ken and his father worked closely with architect Brian Huntley in making decisions. In fact, it was Ken who was given the opportunity by Huntley to design some of the tees, cart paths as well the fairways. Ken actually designed most of the fairways. Since then, he has been involved in almost all of the improvements to the course. Ken would play the first 18 holes with his brother, Mike, Wilkins and Huntley. He continues to play the course at least once a week. Unquestionably, Ken Bleile has had as much to do as anyone in making Eagle Creek a reality. "I am elated to be joining those great people who make up the membership of Heritage Park," Bleile said. "It is an honor to join people like the golfers I grew up such as the Schneiders and Bill Terry. Gary Wilkins was part of the driving force. And then to have the group topped off with family like Nancy's mother, Carolyn Spaar, and my father, Bob. To say I am both thrilled and humbled would be an understatement." Dr. James D. Coupland Dr. Coupland was listed in the Norwalk City Directory as a Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist. Other facts on the doctor was that he was born on Oct. 9, 1884 in Paulding County, Ohio, that he attended Wooster College, married Dorothy Loney at St. Paul Catholic Church in June of 1915, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1918 and was honorably discharged in 1919. The Couplands moved to Eustis, Fla. in 1930. Dr. Coupland died Dec. 20, 1951 in Los Angeles and was buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery. Later his body would be reinterred and reburied in Norwalk's Woodlawn Cemetery. The Coupland's only child, a boy, died in 1917 shortly after birth. There are no other known direct descendants.