Stockton B-Ball Coach, Millville Hall of Famer Bob Hutchings Dies

Bob Hutchings, a multi-sport star at Millville High School in the late 1960s and an assistant coach at Stockton University for many years, died Tuesday at age 72.

Hutchings suffered a heart attack in November and had both of his legs amputated below the knee in December. He is being remembered for spending his life coaching, mentoring, and making friends through basketball,

Hutchings led the Millville Thunderbolts to a South Jersey Group 4 championship in the 1968-69 season, then became a 1000-point scorer in college at Wheeling Jesuit in West Virginia.

After college, 'Hutch" played professionally in Holland before working as an assistant coach at Army under future Duke coaching legend Mike Krzyzewski, as he remembered last year for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Hutchings was the head coach of the Bridgeton boys' basketball team for several years in the 1980s, winning the Cape-Atlantic championship in 1987, and later served as the head coach at Cumberland County College.

Most recently, Bob Hutchings had been an assistant coach for the Stockton Men's team for 17 seasons in his third stint of a 26-year coaching career with the Ospreys, according to the University.

Head Stockton Men's Basketball Coach Scott Bittner told the Press of Atlantic City that Hutchings did it all.

"How many different roles did he play in my life? He was a father figure. He was a brother. He was a friend. He was a co-worker, and, he was a mentor. That's a big void to fill. Depending on what you needed, that's who he was".

Hutchings is survived by his wife, Janet, and sons Ryan and Robert. No information about funeral services has been announced.