By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
Okarche boys basketball coaching legend Bob Carter died late Thursday, according to a funeral home spokesman.
Carter was the coach of the 1979 Warrior state champion team in Class A. The boys defeated Turner 65-61 in overtime in the championship game to give the storied program its lone gold ball.
Nick Annuschat and his brother Ron Annuschat were on Carter’s ’79 team. It was Nick who went on a hot streak in the final game to score 20 points and pull out the overtime victory, said his brother Larry Annuschat.
Larry Annuschat, class of ’85, played for Carter in those years after the state championship. He got to be with Carter and his brothers at a 40th reunion of that title game in 2019.
Carter’s squad was the 1978 runner-up, the first time in school history for the basketball team to be in the semifinals.
“Then he (Carter) takes my brothers in ’79 and wins it. People still say those were the best games ever played there,” Larry Annuschat said.
His brothers Paul, Ron, Nick, and his sister Victoria Lynn Marks, each tragically died of COVID-19 in 2020. Nick was perhaps most proud of the basketball parts of his life, teammates and family members say.
Larry Annuschat said Coach Carter had fatherly qualities. And he was an ambassador for Okarche’s school and town.
“Coach Bob was more than a coach. He was like having dad on the bench with us. I butted heads with him till he left in ’84, and after he left I really understood what lead this man to do what he did while he was here. He was more or less an ambassador of Okarche.”
Larry Annuschat said he doesn’t know anyone who doesn’t respect him for what he did for the school and community.
“He was a very wise man and I’m gonna miss him,” Larry Annuschat said.
Carter, who also won 10 district championships, went on to become head coach at Cheyenne, near his hometown of Hammon. Carter had eight teams which won at least 20 games in 15 years at Okarche before he left in 1984.
Funeral arrangements are being made by Martin-Dugger Funeral Home in Elk City.
Funeral services will be 2 p.m., Tuesday, December 28, 2021 at First Baptist Church, Hammon, Oklahoma. Rev. Scott Showers will officiate, Rev. David Flick will assist. Interment will be at Red Hill Cemetery, Hammon, Oklahoma.
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