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Robert M. 'Bob' Straight

Robert M. “Bob” Straight, 92, of Huntington, IN, died Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018, at 10 p.m. at Heritage Pointe of Huntington.

Mr. Straight graduated from Hammond High School in 1944. He served in the United States Navy on an LST in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. He studied education at Ball State University. He began coaching high school basketball at Earl Park in 1950, then Hammond and Highland, landing in Huntington in 1959. In eight seasons, the Huntington High School boys’ basketball team won eight sectionals, four regionals, a semi-state title and finished runner-up in the state tournament in 1964. While head basketball coach, he held positions of athletic director and assistant principal. He became principal in 1967 upon the opening of the new Huntington North High School, retiring in 1986 after 20 years. While serving as principal, he continued to contribute to the sport of basketball, becoming a five-term member, and eventually the organization’s only three-term president, of the Indiana High School Athletic Association Board of Control.

A 1979 inductee to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, he went on to become president of the hall of fame and was instrumental during the time the building was moved from Indianapolis to New Castle. He served as chairman of the banquet committee for the hall for 25 years and served many terms on the HOF Board of Directors. He was president of the Indiana Coaches Association and organized clinics for basketball coaches throughout the country. The hall honored him at a ceremony in 2014 for the many contributions he made to high school basketball throughout his life. In 2015, the Huntington North High School basketball court was named Bob Straight Court, bearing graphics of his own signature.

He was a member of Evangelical United Methodist Church, in Huntington.

He was born Jan. 8, 1926, in Hammond to Matthew and Stella Blackburn Straight. He married Jean M. McCracken on Sept. 1, 1949, and she survives.

Additional survivors include three daughters, Cheryl (Dan) Greene, of Franklin; Diane (Tim) Miller, of Fort Wayne; and Beth (Todd) Armstrong, of Huntington; a son-in-law, Steve Hurrle, of Franklin; 11 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by a daughter, Barb Hurrle.

Calling is Friday, Nov. 16, 2018, from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Bailey-Love Mortuary, 35 W. Park Drive, Huntington. A funeral service will be held Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018, at 11 a.m. at Huntington First Church of the Nazarene, 1555 Flaxmill Rd., Huntington, with Rev. Dr. Marti Lundy officiating. Burial will be in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Huntington, with military graveside rites performed by VFW Post 2689 of Huntington.
    
Memorials are to Evangelical United Methodist Church or the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, in care of Bailey-Love Mortuary, 35 W. Park Drive, Huntington, IN 46750.

The online guestbook may be signed at www.baileylove.com.