USA Today & AZ Republic

ASU hoops great, St. Johns coach Verl Heap dies
by Doug Haller - Jan. 2, 2009 04:17 PMThe Arizona Republic

ASU Hall of Famer Verl Heap, a basketball star and successful high school coach, died on Christmas Eve.
He was 84.
Heap played basketball for the Sun Devils during the 1942-43 season, but World War II interrupted his career. Heap enlisted in the Air Force, serving as a B-17 pilot. Two years later, he returned to Tempe and played for the Sun Devils from 1945-48.

He was named outstanding player of the 1948 National Basketball Tournament, and went on to coach high school basketball for 30 years at St. Johns, collecting 560 wins.
Heap was inducted into the ASU Hall of Fame in 1998, along with golfer Billy Mayfair and quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst, among others.
Services will be held at 11 .m. Saturday with a viewing an hour before at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Downtown Chapel, in St. Johns. There is also a viewing from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Burnham Mortuary in St. Johns.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Johns High School basketball.
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