Roger Craft, who played for Hall of Fame head coaches Jack Gardner and Fred “Tex” Winter from 1952-55, recently passed away (Sept. 8) at the age of 90 in Lee’s Summit, Missouri after an extended illness.
A native of Garden City, Kansas, Craft played in 52 games for the Wildcats from 1952-55, scoring nearly 400 points on 40 percent shooting in his career. His best season came as a senior in 1954-55 when he averaged 12.1 points per game for Winter’s first team.
Craft has the distinction of scoring the first opposing points in Allen Field House history when K-State and Kansas faced off in the historic venue’s inaugural game on March 1, 1955.
Craft earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from K-State in 1955 before adding a master’s degree in economics from Montana State.
Craft, who served as graduate assistant to Winter following his playing career, went on to coach basketball at Eldorado Junior College (currently Butler Community College) before becoming an assistant coach at Montana State in 1960. He was elevated to head coach in 1962, winning 92 games in seven seasons (1962-69), which included a pair of league championships (1963-64, 1966-67). He was named the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year in 1964 upon helping the Bobcats win the league’s first championship.
While at Montana State, Craft is credited with discovering future Hall of Fame kicker Jan Stenerud. In 1965, Craft was walking through campus when he saw Stenerud, then a just a MSU skiing student athlete from Norway, kicking long field goals with his teammates just for fun. He encouraged the Bobcat football coach at the time to give him a look and a year later, Stenerud was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs.
Craft entered private business in 1970, becoming ingrained in the Bozeman, Montana community as a member of the Bozeman City-County Planning Board for 13 years. He retired at the age of 80.
Craft is survived by his wife of 69 years — Norma Craft — whom he met on a blind date while at K-State — as well as his four children (Laurie, Les, Marcia and Derron), seven grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Roger’s son, Les Craft, played for head coach Jack Hartman from 1979-83.
A celebration of Craft’s life will be held at 10 a.m., on Saturday, Oct. 5 in the chapel of The Summit Church located at 3381 NW Chipman Road in Lee’s Summit. The celebration will be streamed.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the K-State Men’s Basketball program via the KSU Foundation as well as the Montana State Men’s Basketball program via the MSU Alumni Foundation.
