Robert Joe Dean

A native of New Albany, Indiana and a resident of Baton Rouge passed away Sunday, November 17, 2013 at Our Lady of The Lake Regional Medical Center at age 83. He was a U.S.http://www.legacy.com/memorial-sites/army/?personid=168077741&affiliateID=1382" id="InlineMicrositeLink_Army" target="_blank" title="Visit Army Memorial Site to see similar profiles">Armyveteran. After graduating from New Albany High School in 1948, he accepted a basketball scholarship with LSU and enrolled that fall. He was a 3 time All-SEC performer at LSU, is in the LSU Sports Hall of Fame, and a member of the LSU Team of the Century, and played professional basketball with the Phillips 66 Oilers from 1956-1959 in the Industrial League. In 1959 he began a 29 year career with the Converse Rubber Company selling Chuck Taylor All Star basketball shoes throughout the southeast. He became a very popular banquet and summer camp speaker throughout the country and in 1969 began an 18 year career broadcasting SEC basketball games for TVS, Lorimar, and Jefferson-Pilot Sports. His signature phrase, "string music", became folklore and still resonates in basketball circles to this day. In 1987, he became the Director of Athletics at LSU, a position he proudly held until his retirement in 2001. Mr. Dean is in the Indiana High School Hall of Fame, Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, and on November 18, 2012 was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City, MO. Mr. Dean is survived by his children, Robert Joe Dean, Jr., and wife Ellen, Marjorie "Mardi" Kernan Dean, and Mark Monroe Dean, and wife Cookie; grandchildren, Scott Dean and wife Kathryn, Leslie Dean O'Neal and husband David, Dean Webre and wife Rachel, Katie Webre, Marque-Anne Dean, Tanner Dean, Ridley Dean, and Joe Dean; great grandchildren, Will Dean and Jack Dean; and a special friend, Wanda Hargroder. He is preceded in death by his wife of 50 years, Doris Hall Dean, parents, Cyril and Thelma Dean, and sister, Joyce Dean Howison. Visitation will be Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at Rabenhorst Funeral Home, 825 Government Street, from 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm. Visitation will continue Wednesday, November 20, 2013 at First United Methodist Church, 930 North Boulevard, from 10:00 am until religious services at 11:00 am conducted by Rev. Brady Whitten. Interment will follow in Resthaven Gardens of Memory. Pallbearers will be Scott Dean, Dean Webre, Tanner Dean, Ridley Dean, Joe Dean, Matt McKay, Carey Guglielmo, Sr., Collis Temple and Dr. Vince Leggio. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to First United Methodist Church.