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ISU Professor Emeritus creates endowment

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Indiana State University athlete and professor emeritus Duane Klueh has given $100,000 to create the Duane and Mary Alice Klueh Endowment to support the school’s men’s basketball program. ISU says the gift will honor Klueh and his late wife’s connections to the university.

Klueh was an All-American basketball player at ISU in 1948 and led the Sycamores to second place in the NAIA tournament under iconic head coach John Wooden. Klueh was drafted in the eighth round of the 1949 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics, but actually never played for them. However, he did suit up for the Denver Nuggets and Fort Wayne Pistons over his two-year career.

He returned to his alma mater in 1955 to teach physical education and to coach men’s basketball and men’s tennis. Klueh coached the basketball team for 12  years and tennis team for 26 years.

“Almost all of the good things that have happened to me in my life have been the result of being a student-athlete or a teacher and coach at Indiana State. That’s my motivation for attempting to help any way I can,” Klueh said. 

He received ISU’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1990 and the tennis complex on campus was named in his honor in 2003.