CROWN, Keith A.: Died 1966

CROWN, CLEAVE, FISHER, STROM

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 10/3/2019 at 16:48:36

OBITUARIES
**Handwritten: 1966

RITES AT KEOKUK FOR KEITH CROWN

A home town boy who devoted his life to coaching to help boys become men and who received praise from his peers and acclaim from sports writers, was laid to rest at Keokuk.

The funeral served for Keith A. Crown, 73, of Gary, Ind., who died Thursday in a hospital there, was held Monday afternoon, June 6 in the Schmidt Memorial Home at Keokuk. The Rev Wells, Methodist minister of Keokuk, officiated. Burial was in Oakland cemetery, Keokuk.

He was born in Farmington, Nov. 3, 1892, the son of Henry and Jennie Cleave Crown. He was a member of the Methodist church.

After high school, he was active in YMCA work in Keokuk, Ottumwa and Oskaloosa.

Mr. Crown was a 1917 graduate of George Williams college, Chicago. He was a coach at Jefferson School, Gary, Ind., from Sept. 20, 1918 to summer of 1922 and at Horace Mann High School in Gary from 1922 to 1958. He coached All Sports until 1927 and football and basketball until 1933. Crown coached basketball until his retirement in 1958.
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Mr. Crown was honored Jan. 26, 1966, at the twentieth annual banquet of the Gary Old Timers Athletic Association at Hotel Gary for his 40 years of service as a coach in Gary.

The Chicago Tribune's sport columnist, Harold Albert, wrote a lauditory profile on Crown for the Sunday edition on Feb. 14, 1965. He quoted Crown on the most important quality of a good basketball player: "That quality is the eagerness to constantly improve, an intense burning desire to excel, to be a champion. This is not only the most important qualification in the makin of a champion athlete, but also to attain success in all fields of human endeavor."

'This is how he coached and how he has lived these 72 years', concluded Albert in his tribute to Crown.

He is survived by his wife Cora, a son Keith jr. of Los Angeles, Calif., a daughter, Mrs. Ralph Fisher of Buffalo, Ill., a sister, Mrs. George Strom of Gary, Ind. and five grandchildren.

Source: "Slutts Book", Pg. 251, Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA