Dr. Robert L. Kessler was standout basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player at Purdue University

Purdue University

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...

 in the NCAA and then with the Indianapolis Kautskys in the National Basketball League

National Basketball League (United States)

Founded in 1937, the National Basketball League, often abbreviated to NBL, was a professional men's basketball league in the United States. The league would later merge with the Basketball Association of America  to form the National Basketball Association  in 1949.- League history :The...

 (NBL).

Kessler was from Anderson

Anderson, Indiana

Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Madison county. Anderson is the headquarters of the Church of God and home of Anderson University, which is...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

 and attended Anderson High School where he graduated in 1932. He then enrolled at Purdue and played on the men's varsity basketball team

Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball

The Purdue Boilermakers basketball team is a college basketball program that competes in NCAA Division I and is a member of the Big Ten Conference. Purdue basketball holds the record for most Big Ten Championships with 22, along with being the only program in the conference to boast winning records...

 for his final three years under future Hall of Fame coach Ward Lambert

Ward Lambert

Ward Louis "Piggy" Lambert was an American college men's basketball coach. He was born in Deadwood, South Dakota. In 1890, Lambert and his family moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana. He played basketball at Crawfordsville High School and Wabash College, both under coach Ralph Jones, who himself...

. Kessler was a two-time All-American

NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

The NCAA Men's Basketball All-American teams are honorary teams made up of those NCAA basketball players voted the best in the country by a variety of organizations.-History:...

 (1935–36), and as a senior

Senior (education)

Senior is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the 4th year of study .-High school:...

 he became Purdue's first ever consensus All-American

1936 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

The Consensus 1936 College Basketball All-American team, as determined by aggregating the results of three major All-American teams. To earn "consensus" status, a player must win honors from a majority of the following teams: the Helms Athletic Foundation, Converse and College Humor Magazine.-1936...

.

After college, Kessler played professionally for three seasons in the NBL for the Indianapolis Kautskys. He was named the league's Rookie of the Year in 1937–38, although Kessler's teams never once qualified for the postseason. In his later life, Kessler worked at General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

and eventually became its vice president.