Roger Craft, who played for Hall of Fame head coaches Jack Gardner and Fred “Tex” Winter from 1952 to 1955, died on September 8 at the age of 90 in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, following an extended illness.
Craft, a native of Garden City, Kansas, played 52 games for the Wildcats from 1952 to 1955, accumulating over 400 points on 40% shooting. His greatest season came as a senior in 1954-55, when he averaged 12.1 points per game on Winter’s first team.
Craft graduated from K-State with a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1955, followed by a master’s degree in economics from Montana State.
Craft, who served as Winter’s graduate assistant after his playing career, went on to coach basketball at Eldorado Junior College (now Butler Community College) before becoming an assistant coach at Montana State in 1960. He was promoted to head coach in 1962 and won 92 games over seven seasons (1962-69), including two league championships (1963-64, 1966-67). He was voted Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year in 1964 after guiding the Bobcats to the league’s first championship.
Craft began his private business career in 1970 and spent 13 years on the Bozeman City-County Planning Board. He retired at the age of eighty.
Craft is survived by his wife of 69 years, Norma Craft, whom he met on a blind date while at Kansas State, as well as his four children (Laurie, Les, Marcia, and Derron), seven granddaughters, and one great-grandchild.
Roger’s son, Les Craft, played for head coach Jack Hartman from 1979 to 1983.
Craft’s life will be celebrated on Saturday, October 5 at 10 a.m. in the chapel of The Summit Church, 3381 NW Chipman Road, Lee’s Summit. The event will be livestreamed at live.thesummit.church.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the K-State Men’s Basketball program through the KSU Foundation (link) and the Montana State Men’s Basketball program through the MSU Alumni Foundation (link).
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