Robert “Pudgy” Hunt (November 3, 1938-May 11, 2025) lived a full life on the basketball court from the town of Knappa, to the world championships of masters competition.
He got the nickname "Pudgy" for being a hefty baby. Hunt suffered significant burns at age nine but recovered and grew to six-foot five inches. That made him a major force in Oregon small school basketball. Playing for Knappa in the 1950s, he set the Oregon high school all-time career scoring record with 2,584 points. Pudgy also still shares the class 2A Boys high school tournament record for an individual game with 45 points. He was an All-Tournament selection in 1955, 1956 and 1957. In 1955 Knappa won the boys basketball Championship. Hunt graduated in 1957.
Hunt went on to Gonzaga University where he was team captain and the leading scorer for the 1961-62 season averaging 20 points per game. Following college, “Pudgy” was a member of several AAU State Championship teams including Claudia’s and the MAC. He also began participating in the AAU Masters program with his own East Bank Saloon team which has 15 AAU National Championships making the All-Tourney team 5 times and also a tournament MVP selection in 1988.
Time passed and Hunt moved on to masters competition. He was involved in National Masters Basketball, the World Masters Games and the World Senior Games. Hunt is known as one of the star players on one of the best teams in national and international masters (age-group) basketball competition. Internationally, the East Bank Saloon team has won nine gold medals in Toronto, Brisbane, Melbourne, Edmonton, Buenos Aires, Las Vegas, Costa Rica, Slovenia and Brazil. Silver medals were one in Portland and Uruguay.
Pudgy ran with a colorful crowd and may or may not have met the mysterious D.B. Cooper in his travels.