If you knew him in the 1930s, you would recognize him as a youngster from the north who had a report path and a desire to compete.
If you knew him in the 1940s, you knew him as a striking athlete at , State High, a World War II conflict senior, and a star at , Indiana State.
If you knew him in the 1950s and 1960s, you knew him as” manager” as he led ISU sports to winning techniques in both years.
If you knew him in the 1970s and 1980s, you also knew him as” coach”, but with his attention devoted to his favorite game of tennis.
If you knew him later, or genuinely in any time, you knew him as a very kind person who represented , Terre Haute , and ISU with difference.
This was  , Duane Klueh, one of Terre Haute’s greatest players and characters. On XXXX, Klueh died at the age at 98, a life lived about wholly in , Terre Haute. a living lived in a way that best exemplifies what Klueh’s town may be.
Born in , Bottineau, North Dakota, the Klueh home relocated to , Terre Haute , when Klueh was a kid.
A celebrity at , Indiana State Lab School , in the early 1940s, Klueh is almost surely the most famous baseball student to have played for the higher class Willows.
He served in the , Navy , from 1942- 46 and served on the U. S. S. Wasp, among various operations.
Klueh played for famous coach , John Wooden , and was ISU’s best gamer during Wooden ‘ stay and his sun continued to flourish when , John Longfellow , took over as manager. Klueh was an Many- American and was named National Player of the Year by the , Helms Foundation , in 1948.
” I think my first meeting]with Wooden ] was when I started going up to the gym when I could get in to shoot baskets. One day he was out there and I got to join him and told him I was going to travel out for basketball”, Klueh recalled in a Down In , The Valley Tribune- Star , radio interview in 2020.
” He did n’t know me and I did n’t really know him, except I did know him because he was a very well- known person to any young kid who wanted to play basketball”, Klueh recalled.
Klueh was the first person to own his quantity taken off as his No. at ISU. 54 was in the roof with Larry Bird’s popular No. 33.
In the first two months of the NBA, Klueh after played 113 games between 1950 and 1951. He played for the original , Denver Nuggets , and the Fort Wayne Pistons. Klaeh was the only person who was the oldest to remain active for the Pistons team.
” That’s about in another existence”, said Klueh of his playing time in 2017. ” I do n’t think about it a whole lot. I enjoyed it, but it’s so far in the history. I did meet a lot of people, and I can recall having wonderful teammates and coaches who were great people.
He spent a short time as a high class manager in , Fowler , before he took over as ISU manager in 1954. As ISU manager, Klueh coached the Sycamores to a remaining- standing school history of 182 victories and had a.602 winning percentage.
Klueh did n’t concentrate on his own time of sports. He was a semi-frequent user to the Hulman Center properly into his 90s and enjoyed the modern game.
” The match is so, but, so much different than it was before the three-point line and the shot clock were added. I did n’t coach when those things were used. Speak about two significant changes, and I believe they will change things, Klueh said.
With 278 victories in 26 months leading the ISU men’s tennis system, Klueh is also the all-time ISU coach win head in the other sport he excelled at, men’s tennis.
Klueh served for both the capital and the ISU for many years as a reputation in the community.
His partner of 68 times,  , Mary Alice Klueh , died in 2017. They had seven children, 10 children and six excellent- grandkids.
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