Duane M. Klueh, basketball coach and legend at Indiana State University has died. He was aged 98. Duane was born in Bottineau, North Dakota, and was raised in Terre Haute, Indiana. Klueh played professionally in the NBA from 1949 to 1951. His jersey #54 is only one of five numbers retired by Indiana State University.
Playing And Coaching Career
Drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1949, Klueh played two seasons in the NBA with the Denver Nuggets and Fort Wayne Pistons. He was the head men’s basketball coach at Indiana State University for 12 seasons (1955–1967). As a Head Coach, he remains the leader in wins. He earned four Indiana Collegiate Conference “Coach of the Year” awards in basketball and serving as president of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Basketball Coaches.
Awards Received
Duane was a charter inductee into the Indiana State University Hall of Fame (1982) and is only one of five male basketball athletes to have a jersey, #54, retired by Indiana State University. He was also a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame (1988), the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame (2006), and the NAIA Hall of Fame (1955). In April, it was announced he would be inducted into the 2024 class of the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame.
Klueh received ISU’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1990 and the March On! Award for philanthropy in 2014. He was inducted into the inaugural Indiana State University Hall of Fame class in 1982, and the Duane Klueh Tennis Complex on Indiana State’s campus was named in his honor in 2003. In 2021, he established the Duane and Mary Alice Klueh Endowment to support the men’s basketball program. His legacy at Indiana State University will be fondly remembered and deeply missed.
Tributes
Interim Athletic Director Angie Lansing expressed her sympathy, sharing, “We are deeply saddened to hear of Coach Klueh’s passing. He was one of the finest coaches and people to have ever lived. Those who had a chance to know him were blessed beyond measure. We are thinking of his family and the Sycamore community at this time.”
Arrangements for services are pending and will be shared at a later time.
