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The late Bob Knight shared some legendary basketball stories.
Scrolling through my phone, I came across an interview young Joe Buck did with the late Knight, the Hall of Fame coach who passed away almost a year ago.
It was a great repartee. Buck was trying to make his bones as an up-and-coming broadcaster, and Knight was as candid as anyone in the history of sports.
I was surprised that the one-hour piece had a few holes in it.
For example, they covered the 1976 season, when Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers went 32-0, the last college basketball team to go undefeated. They had beaten UCLA at the Final Four the year after John Wooden had retired. And Knight revealed he respected Wooden as a coach, but he allowed wealthy booster Sam Gilbert to recruit the best high school players with illegal inducements.
Buck mentioned that Indiana had been undefeated the year before, losing to Kentucky in the Midwest regional final. Buck failed to mention that Hoosiers All-American Scott May had played with a cast on his fractured hand or Knight might have pulled off the feat in 1975, as well.
They talked about his 1981 national championship win over Carolina in Philadelphia, the day President Ronald Reagan was wounded by a gunman in Washington, D.C. Knight said he and Dean Smith talked about whether to play, postpone the game or cancel it. Smith wasn’t sure they should play, but Knight was.
“President Reagan wants us to play,” Knight said. “He’s a winner and the game should go on.”
The Hoosiers led by a point at the half, and Knight recalled they went on to win with an early run in the second half. Tar Heel fans remember that came after official Booker Turner called James Worthy for his third and fourth fouls, forcing Smith to take out Big Game James.
In 1984, Knight coached the USA Olympic team to the gold medal in Los Angeles. They were barely beating Spain at halftime of the championship game, and Knight got on Michael Jordan in the locker room for not setting any screens.
“Coach, didn’t you once call me the quickest basketball player you have ever seen?” Michael said smiling. “I think I set screens faster than you can see them.”
Knight said he wanted the game to be decided with four minutes remaining. With seven minutes left and the Americans now blowing out Spain, Jordan called a timeout, put his arm around Knight and said, “Coach, we’re three minutes early.”
After sitting on the bench at Ohio State behind future NBA stars Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek, Knight had decided he wanted to coach and got the head job at West Point at age 24. He had a point guard named Mike Krzyzewski, who was not allowed to shoot because Knight wanted him to pass the ball, play defense and learn how to coach. And Coach K sure checked all those boxes.
Featured image via Associated Press/Bob Jordan
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
