Published: November 14, 2007 10:51 pm         

Former ISU star running to represent District 46

TERRE HAUTE — A former Indiana State University basketball star today will toss his jersey into the political arena, seeking the District 46 seat in the Indiana House of Representatives next year.

Robert A. Heaton may best be known for two “miracle-man” basketball shots in 1979 while playing against New Mexico State and Arkansas universities. Heaton’s shot against Arkansas put ISU into the NCAA Final Four, while his New Mexico State shot preserved ISU’s regular season perfect record at 18-0.

The ISU team, which featured Larry Bird, went 33-1, losing in the championship game to Magic Johnson’s Michigan State University team. Bird with the Boston Celtics and Johnson with the Los Angeles Lakers later won several NBA championships.

Heaton is planning to announce his Republican candidacy at 10 a.m. in the second-floor conference room of the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Terre Haute.

Heaton, 51, a 1980 graduate of ISU, owns Heaton Financial Services, a company that sells insurance and mutual funds. He has worked in insurance for 27 years and formerly worked for about 17 years for Forrest Sherer Insurance.

“The community has given me a lot in my past and in my career and I want to give back to the community in a way of serving,” Heaton said. “I met Governor Mitch Daniels a few times and I think he is a good man and he’s got some good ideas. I think Terre Haute has to work with Indianapolis.”

Heaton said one area he would like to see a focus on is gaining higher-paying jobs. He pointed to the state’s efforts on life sciences industries, such as Medco Health Solutions, a New Jersey-based company, which made an announcement this week to invest $140 million to build an advanced automated pharmacy and create about 1,300 high-paying jobs in central Indiana by 2012.

“We just lost 600 jobs at Pfizer, which they don’t know what will happen yet with those, but we need to continue to look for quality jobs, getting quality jobs like at Pfizer,” Heaton said.

Indiana Rep. Vern Tincher, D-Riley, currently holds the District 46 seat.

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.