Robert G. Heft

Robert G. "Bob" Heft (January 19, 1941 – December 12, 2009), born in Saginaw, Michigan, was the designer of the current American 50-star flag as well as a designer of a submitted 51-star flag proposal. He spent his childhood in Lancaster, Ohio, where he created the American flag as a school project.

Career

After graduating from college, Heft became a high school teacher and later a college professor, and he also served as mayor of Napoleon, Ohio, for 28 years. After retiring from teaching, he became a motivational speaker. Heft was a longtime-member of the Harvey Spaulding Toastmasters club in Saginaw where he earned the nickname "Father Time" as he often filled the role of timer during meetings. While he was seen as one of their own, other members of the club were always honored when Heft would deliver a speech at a meeting.

Flag design and adoption

There is a widespread myth on the internet that Heft designed the 50 star American Flag in 1958 while living with his grandparents. The story, also repeated in his obituary, says that when he was 17 years old, he did the flag design as a high school class project. According to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Museum, Heft's design was never considered by the official flag committee. There is no congressional record of the President considering Heft's design, and many others came up with the same design that the committee eventually adopted. While the design chosen was the same as Heft's, Heft himself was not the originator of the 50 star flag.