Individual Details
Robert Andrew Crumly
(3 Jan 1924 - 29 Oct 1997)
The San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego, California, Saturday, November 1, 1997, Edition: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, Page: B-6:1,6,7,8 B-8:2,3,4,5: Long before the days of the slam dunk, Robert Andrew Crumly showed the right stuff on the basketball court. His specialty was the old-fashioned hook shot, and he used it with crafty consistency during the 1944-45 season at San Diego State, averaging a team-leading 12 points per game. It was enough to help him earn Aztec most valuable player honors for the second straight year despite an annoying handicap: nearsightedness that required the most powerful prescription eye wear he could find.
Mr. Crumly, a retired elementary school educator, died of cancer Wednesday in his Chula Vista home. He was 73. Exempted from World War II because of his vision problem, he became a YMCA athletic director after graduating in 1947 with a sociology degree from San Diego State. While living in Pomona, he earned a teaching credential at LaVerne College and then an administrative credential at Claremont Men's College.
In 1953, he launched a 27-year career in the Chula Vista City Elementary School District and bought a home in Chula Vista that he would own for the rest of his life.
After teaching at Vista Square and Cook schools, Mr. Crumly was appointed the first principal at Sunnyside Elementary. He later was principal at Castle Park, Parkview and Mueller elementary schools. After a stroke in 1981, Mr. Crumly took early retirement.
"One of the things he enjoyed most as a principal was playground duty," said Chuck Crumly, one of his three sons. "He organized elementary school teams and made sure they had good equipment to play with."
Born in Hanford, Mr. Crumly grew up primarily in Corvallis, Ore., and Boise, Idaho. His basketball skills surfaced as a youth in Boise, where his father was a YMCA administrator. The young Crumly was captain of a district champion YMCA basketball team and excelled as a left-handed first baseman and half-miler at Boise High School.
A year after his family moved to San Diego in 1940, Mr. Crumly enrolled at San Diego State. He dropped out to work in a lumberyard, discarding dreams to tour the world on a steamer, then returned to school in 1943. As a 6-foot-3-inch center and forward, he scored 328 points in 27 games -- some of them against military teams -- during the 1944-45 Aztec season. In addition to his MVP honors, he served as team captain.
During the 1960s, Mr. Crumly played recreational basketball and kept in shape by jogging three miles up to three times a week in his Chula Vista neighborhood. He was a familiar site to motorists -- some of whom, puzzled by the sight of a grown main striding through the streets in sweat pants and high-top Converse basketball shoes -- would offer him a ride. "He was a jogger long before it became fashionable," Chuck Crumly said, "but he gave it up after some knee and foot problems." Mr. Crumly also played golf and handball and enjoyed camping and backpacking.
Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Jan; two daughters, Margaret Thomas of Chula Vista and Carol Sinclair of Fountain Valley; three sons, Chuck and John, both of Chula Vista, and Mark of Northport, Ala.; and seven grandchildren. Services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday at Hilltop Park in Chula Vista. Donations are suggested to Grossmont Hospice.
Mr. Crumly, a retired elementary school educator, died of cancer Wednesday in his Chula Vista home. He was 73. Exempted from World War II because of his vision problem, he became a YMCA athletic director after graduating in 1947 with a sociology degree from San Diego State. While living in Pomona, he earned a teaching credential at LaVerne College and then an administrative credential at Claremont Men's College.
In 1953, he launched a 27-year career in the Chula Vista City Elementary School District and bought a home in Chula Vista that he would own for the rest of his life.
After teaching at Vista Square and Cook schools, Mr. Crumly was appointed the first principal at Sunnyside Elementary. He later was principal at Castle Park, Parkview and Mueller elementary schools. After a stroke in 1981, Mr. Crumly took early retirement.
"One of the things he enjoyed most as a principal was playground duty," said Chuck Crumly, one of his three sons. "He organized elementary school teams and made sure they had good equipment to play with."
Born in Hanford, Mr. Crumly grew up primarily in Corvallis, Ore., and Boise, Idaho. His basketball skills surfaced as a youth in Boise, where his father was a YMCA administrator. The young Crumly was captain of a district champion YMCA basketball team and excelled as a left-handed first baseman and half-miler at Boise High School.
A year after his family moved to San Diego in 1940, Mr. Crumly enrolled at San Diego State. He dropped out to work in a lumberyard, discarding dreams to tour the world on a steamer, then returned to school in 1943. As a 6-foot-3-inch center and forward, he scored 328 points in 27 games -- some of them against military teams -- during the 1944-45 Aztec season. In addition to his MVP honors, he served as team captain.
During the 1960s, Mr. Crumly played recreational basketball and kept in shape by jogging three miles up to three times a week in his Chula Vista neighborhood. He was a familiar site to motorists -- some of whom, puzzled by the sight of a grown main striding through the streets in sweat pants and high-top Converse basketball shoes -- would offer him a ride. "He was a jogger long before it became fashionable," Chuck Crumly said, "but he gave it up after some knee and foot problems." Mr. Crumly also played golf and handball and enjoyed camping and backpacking.
Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Jan; two daughters, Margaret Thomas of Chula Vista and Carol Sinclair of Fountain Valley; three sons, Chuck and John, both of Chula Vista, and Mark of Northport, Ala.; and seven grandchildren. Services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday at Hilltop Park in Chula Vista. Donations are suggested to Grossmont Hospice.
Events
| Birth | 3 Jan 1924 | Kings Co., California |  | ||
| Marriage | 11 Sep 1946 | Glendale, Los Angeles Co., California - Jan Whaples | | ||
| Death | 29 Oct 1997 | San Diego Co., California | | ||
| Burial | Unkinown | |
Families
| Spouse | Jan Whaples (1925 - ) |
| Child | Charles Robert "Chuck" Crumly (1951 - ) |
| Child | John William Crumly (1953 - 1998) |
| Child | Margaret Anne Crumly (1954 - ) |
| Child | Carol E. Crumly (1960 - ) |
| Child | Mark J. Crumly (1962 - ) |
| Father | Charles Leonard Crumly (1893 - 1958) |
| Mother | Margaret Ellen Shamel (1897 - 1972) |
| Sibling | Ruth Olive Crumly (1921 - 2012) |