Bob Garner was a gregarious, larger-than-life figure who greeted visitors to the Hoosier Gym with a smile — and then showered them with every detail of the Knightstown, Indiana, relic and the movie “Hoosiers” that brought the tiny building national fame in 1986.
He was the alum who liked to tell anyone who would listen that he played basketball for Knightstown in that gym’s final game in 1966. He was a man who loved the movie and the building so much, he published a book “Hoosiers: Eleven Life Lessons.”
Garner, 74, died Thursday from COVID-19. He was not vaccinated, his son Keith Garner said.
Just last month, Garner was able to see a dream of his become reality when “Hoosiers” was shown at the gym with all the original scenes added back in. As Garner said, “This was the way the movie was meant to be seen.”
Garner sat alongside “Hoosiers” writer Angelo Pizzo to watch, smiling the entire time.
“That was kind of his last big thing for the 35th anniversary (of the movie) to put that together,” said Keith Garner. “In his mind, the movie was officially done.”
Keith Garner is so grateful his dad got to see that happen before he died.
Bob Garner’s official title was events coordinator, but for him, the job and the gym was his savior, said Keith Garner.
When Bob Garner’s wife died in 2014, he was lost, trying to decide what to do next, his son said. The couple lived in Florida.
“He ended up back where it all started for him,” said Keith Garner.
Once back in Knightstown, one of…
