Saginaw had a giant in its midst who lived an unassuming life.
Robert G. “Bob” Heft, the designer of the 50-star flag and a Saginaw native, died Saturday at 67 of a heart attack at Covenant Medical Center. His
was today.
Heft’s legacy lives on, flown from the ever-distant magnificent desolation of the moon to U.S. outposts in every corner of the globe, from ice-encrusted Antarctica to remote tropic Pacific islands, from the dusty, sandy roads of war in the Middle East to embassies in Europe.
The sun never sets on the gift Bob Heft gave America.
The Thomas Township man jetted around the globe to spread the message of the nation, an ambassador of patriotism and pride wrapped in red, white and blue. He shook hands with presidents, world leaders and celebrities of all statures, from John Glenn to Johnny Cash, and from Dwight Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan.
Heft toured the world with entertainment legend Bob Hope 47 times, appeared with Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show” three times, traveled with country singer Lee Greenwood, visited all 50 states and 57 countries and paid calls to soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and Coast Guard members at more than 100 U.S. military bases.
Chuck Dodge, a Saginaw-area motivational speaker, once asked him: “How many celebrities and stars have you met? He said, ‘You rattle them off, and I’ll tell you if I’ve met them.’
“What a neat comeback,” Dodge said, “because he met so many people, he couldn’t rattle them off.”
Despite the lofty heights, Heft, former mayor of Napoleon, Ohio, and retired history teacher and college professor lived like the rest of us in many ways. He drove around town in his American-made Oldsmobile with US FLAG indelibly imprinted on Michigan license plates, went to church, took leadership roles in civic clubs such as the Lions and Junior Achievement and — despite delivering thousands of speeches and interacting with world leaders — joined the Saginaw Toastmasters Club, Harvey Spaulding Chapter, and even took advice on how to improve his delivery. There, he gained a new title, “Father Time,” because he often gravitated to the role of speech timer.
That’s where I met him, though I was too humbled to ever try to correct a living icon, no matter how many “ahs” he might have mentioned. And I always tried to avoid the red light signaling time up, sit down and shut up. He indeed wielded a lot of power.
But he was down to Earth, true to his principles. The real deal. He even gave me one of his autographed flags, the only person allowed by federal law to sign the national symbol.
Dodge recalled whenever Heft rose to speak, he wouldn’t voluntarily tell his Toastmaster audience his claim to fame. So Dodge would prompt him with a question: “And Bob, what did you do?” he would ask. “Then he would tell me he was the creator of the 50-star flag. “He was very humble. He’d never mentioned it himself.
“He’s an icon in my eyes,” Dodge said, “and I’m just glad to have crossed his path.”
And his handiwork may live longer if America one day gains a 51st state.
Bob designed a 51-star flag, with alternating rows of eight and nine stars. Just in case.
As a 17-year-old high school student in Lancaster, Ohio, Heft crafted the 50-star flag in 1958 as a history class project. He cut up, then stitched back together, a family-owned flag using his mother’s Singer sewing machine tucked away in the basement. For his 12-plus hours of labor, he earned a B minus.
That one grade would forever alter the course of his life. “I came unglued,” he would tell an interviewer.
His teacher, Stanley Pratt, challenged him if he got the redesigned Stars and Stripes accepted in Washington, D.C., he’d reconsider.
Then Heft set out to make history.
In 1960, President Eisenhower called and asked for Robert Heft at a Lancaster factory where he worked as a draftsman. Heft told him just to call him Bob. With the help of an Ohio congressman, the flag that started as a class project became the newest national banner. And Heft got his “A,” two years late.
The new flag became a part of us all, and for that reason, Heft will always be a part of us.
Thank you. Millions have saluted your 50-star creation for nearly half a century.
Now, America and especially Saginaw give you a final and unforgettable salute.