Robert (Bob) Heft Creator of the legendary fifty-star American flag Country: USA

1. Creator of the Legendary American Flag
2. The Competition for the Fifty-Star Flag
3. Career and Contributions

Creator of the Legendary American Flag

Robert "Bob" Heft was the creator of the legendary fifty-star American flag and one of the designs for the fifty-one-star flag. He was born in Saginaw, Michigan and spent his childhood in Lancaster, Ohio. It was there that he developed the design for the flag as a school project. In 1958, when he was just seventeen years old, Heft lived with his grandparents. The idea for the school assignment was inspired by his family flag, which had forty-eight stars. He took the main blue field from the family flag and hand-sewed one hundred stars onto it, fifty on each side. Initially, the idea only earned him a low grade. Unsatisfied with the grade, he discussed the project with his teacher, Stanley Pratt, who made an unusual compromise - if the flag design was accepted by Congress, Heft's grade would be reconsidered. Heft's flag design was indeed accepted, after the addition of Alaska but before Hawaii became a state. According to Heft, Mr. Pratt kept his word and gave him a well-deserved A grade. Heft claimed to have registered versions of flag designs ranging from fifty-one to sixty stars as his intellectual property.

The Competition for the Fifty-Star Flag

When Alaska and Hawaii were seeking statehood, President Dwight Eisenhower received around 1,500 flag designs. Some of them had only forty-nine stars, but most of them were fifty-star designs. It is known that at least three, and likely more, of the designs were almost identical to the current flag. Currently, all the designs are stored in the Presidential Archives in Abilene, Kansas, but only a small portion of them have been published.

Career and Contributions

After college, Heft became a teacher, initially working in schools and later becoming a college professor. He served as the mayor of Napoleon, Ohio for twenty-eight years. After leaving his teaching career, Heft became a professional motivational speaker. He was a lifelong member of the Harvey Spaulding Toastmasters club, and although he was considered an ordinary member, his speeches were always a great honor for the other participants. Heft passed away at the age of sixty-seven on December 12, 2009.