The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS - Oscar Robertson returned to his hometown Saturday for the funeral of the high school coach who led him to two state basketball championships.

Robertson and others recalled Ray Crowe as a sage figure who guided the team from all-black Crispus Attucks High School through the racial tensions in 1950s Indianapolis.

Hundreds of people filled the gymnasium at the now-Attucks Middle School to honor Crowe, a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame who died Dec. 20 at 88.

"He meant so much," said Robertson, who starred on the 1955 and 1956 state championship teams. "When we won games, people were able to go back to their offices and factories and brag about it at a time when blacks were not really thought well of."

Robertson and others characterized Crowe as a disciplinarian who radiated tough love.

"He commanded respect, and he gave respect," said Hallie Bryant, who played at Attucks in the early 1950s. "He wanted you to be somebody."

Robertson, 65, who now lives in Cincinnati, remembers being the recipient of a Crowe tongue-lashing for dribbling the basketball between his legs and behind his back during practice.

"He would tell me, 'You're not a Harlem Globetrotter,' " said Robertson, who later played at the University of Cincinnati and with the Cincinnati Royals of the NBA. "He preached total discipline."

Crowe's funeral procession included a drive around Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis, the route traditionally taken by state championship basketball teams after their victories. Attucks' championship teams never took that victory lap because of racial tensions at the time.

Crowe retired from teaching in 1967.