Roger Craft, who played under Hall of Fame coaches Jack Gardner and Fred “Tex” Winter from 1952 to 1955, passed away on September 8 at the age of 90 in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, following a prolonged illness.

Born in Garden City, Kansas, Craft participated in 52 games for the Wildcats during his college career, scoring nearly 400 points with a shooting percentage of 40%. His standout season was as a senior in 1954-55, where he averaged 12.1 points per game for Winter’s inaugural team.

Craft graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physical education from K-State in 1955 and later earned a master’s degree in economics from Montana State.

After his playing days, Craft served as a graduate assistant to Winter before coaching basketball at Eldorado Junior College (now Butler Community College). In 1960, he became an assistant coach at Montana State, and by 1962 he was promoted to head coach. Over seven seasons (1962-69), he won 92 games, capturing two league championships (1963-64, 1966-67), and was named the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year in 1964 after leading the Bobcats to their first league title.

Craft transitioned to the private sector in 1970 and became a prominent member of the Bozeman, Montana community, serving on the Bozeman City-County Planning Board for 13 years before retiring at 80.

He is survived by his wife of 69 years, Norma, whom he met on a blind date at K-State, along with their four children—Laurie, Les, Marcia, and Derron—seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Roger’s son, Les Craft, played for coach Jack Hartman from 1979 to 1983.

A celebration of Craft’s life is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday, October 5, at The Summit Church in Lee’s Summit, and it will be streamed online.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the K-State Men’s Basketball program through the KSU Foundation, as well as to the Montana State Men’s Basketball program via the MSU Alumni Foundation.