Funeral services for NIU Hall of Famer and former basketball standout Robert (Bob) L. Patterson, a 6-foot-10-inch, 220-pound back-up center on the storied 21-4 Huskie quintet that upset No. 5 Indiana and cracked the nation’s Top 20 in 1971-72 were scheduled for Saturday, in Florida.

The 57-year-old Patterson suffered a massive heart attack and died Sunday morning in Miami. An All-State selection at Jackson Senior High School, he earned two Northern Illinois varsity letters.

“This is a shock,” said former teammate Billy ‘The Kid’ Harris. “Of all the guys, Bob was 6-9, 6-10; you think big guys like that are indestructible. He was a big, strong kid who had decent skills. Bob could put the ball on the floor and had a nice touch from the foul line. Life, you never know. This is all difficult to believe. Bob was a great guy.”

He tallied a season-high 11 points and nine boards in his second career start at Purdue. In the historic 85-71 victory over coach Bobby Knight’s Hoosiers in a roaring, jam-packed Chick Evans Field House on Jan. 4, 1972, Patterson posted six points on 3-of-5 shots from the floor and four rebounds.

The 1971-72 group is regarded as the best men’s cage unit in school history and was enshrined into the Northern Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame in 1987. The Huskies finished third nationally in major-college scoring (95.2 ppg.), rolled up an 11-game winning streak, 10 100-point games, seven Evans Field House sellouts and a No. 19 ranking in the Associated Press poll in January.

Think someone belongs in the Northern Illinois Athletic Hall of Fame?

Check April 24 on your calendar as nominations for the Hall of Fame are due.

Criteria for Hall of Fame membership is “…outstanding contributions to intercollegiate athletics at Northern Illinois University.” According to the Hall of Fame by-laws, former NIU student-athletes and teams are eligible for nomination 10 years after the final year of their respective intercollegiate athletics competition while coaches, administrators and staff can be nominated five years after their departure or retirement from the university.

Letters of nomination with documentation of each candidate (individual or team), photostatic copies of newspaper or magazine press clippings, yearbooks or scrapbooks can be forwarded to committee chair Mike Korcek, NIU’s Sports Information Director Emeritus. Any vintage, personal materials will be returned once they have been photocopied for the committee’s perusal.

“Every year, this is the ultimate Huskie event,” said Korcek, who has covered Northern Illinois athletics since the mid-1960s. “That is no exaggeration. You can literally see and feel the Huskie pride, nostalgia and fellowship at the social hour and banquet. It’s a trip to our illustrious past. To hear the stories about middle-class kids winding up in the NFL or playing in the NCAA Tournament or becoming highly successful in their post-NIU years: it’s awe-inspiring. The ceremony oozes Cardinal and Black. This is our tradition, our Northern Illinois athletics’ legacy.”

As mentioned, the process starts in the spring and concludes at the annual Hall of Fame Induction Banquet in October at the Duke Ellington Ballroom in the Holmes Student Center. The exact dates and times will be released at a later date.