How about a thread for Run ins with Coach Knight

[GeorgeStrait IU]

or stories you have heard?

I just shared one of him, Steve Chancellor and former Hoosier Tom Geyer at the Evansville Deehead tavern in May 2001. Coach Knight was drinking Diet Coke with milk. Had a female EPD officer around them so didnt want to approach. Any and all stories please.

Ps: God bless you Coach Knight, I love you and for everything you done for IU basketball and for all its fans and supporters.

 

[steelyvan]

It was somewhat well known that CRMK frequently did not ride the team bus to the arena prior to games. He chose to walk. And with all of the Championship game excitement of New Orleans in 1987, that fact was forgotten by many. But some of us noticed him quietly depart the hotel venue for the arena. My group changed our travel plans and with quite an entourage of IU fans, we walked to the Superdome. Solemn and respectful, we marched to victory with The General.
Awesome (k)night.

 

[ulrey]

or stories you have heard?

I just shared one of him, Steve Chancellor and former Hoosier Tom Geyer at the Evansville Deehead tavern in May 2001. Coach Knight was drinking Diet Coke with milk. Had a female EPD officer around them so didnt want to approach. Any and all stories please.

Ps: God bless you Coach Knight, I love you and for everything you done for IU basketball and for all its fans and supporters.

Chancellor and Geyer?

 

[destewart]

My most memorable was taking my youngest son, a contrary lad, to attend Coach knight’s camp in the early ‘80’s. Arrived at the Fieldhouse and took wife and Matt to meet him and say hello. Coach Bob said he woild have Pat looking out for him and after a short visit we said goodbye and headed our for the car. Before I left Bob stuffed an envelope in my hand and wheeled around and disappeared in the throng. I paused to open it and the contents were my check. I began looking for him and finally spotted him and headed over and when I got there I said, “Bob, I do not need a freebie., this was not necessary. He gave me that stern look like I had called a bad foul, and said, “McClure, you can either do it my way and leave him here, or do it your way and take him home!” Any guesses who won that argument? P.S. Matt went to IU for a semester, married Longtime John Pont assistant Nick Mourouzis‘ daughter, Pam, and drifted away from IU basketball after RMK was sent packing. He is not a Purdue fan.

 

[kurt cloverdales]

or stories you have heard?

I just shared one of him, Steve Chancellor and former Hoosier Tom Geyer at the Evansville Deehead tavern in May 2001. Coach Knight was drinking Diet Coke with milk. Had a female EPD officer around them so didnt want to approach. Any and all stories please.

Ps: God bless you Coach Knight, I love you and for everything you done for IU basketball and for all its fans and supporters.

diet coke with milk? was he eating liver and oranges?

 

[Sonap]

I think I told my playing against Eric Anderson with Knight in the crowd and getting dunked on story.

I took his coaching class senior year. He did half of the lectures and gave a lot of good advice. Now I am a huge Coach Knight fan and was even bigger back then. So one class he was lecturing and walking down the row. He stopped next to me and put his hand on my shoulder while lecturing. I froze and didn’t know what to do. I was in awe cause I would have given my left nut to put on the candy stripes.

 

[VanPastorMan]

or stories you have heard?

I just shared one of him, Steve Chancellor and former Hoosier Tom Geyer at the Evansville Deehead tavern in May 2001. Coach Knight was drinking Diet Coke with milk. Had a female EPD officer around them so didnt want to approach. Any and all stories please.

Ps: God bless you Coach Knight, I love you and for everything you done for IU basketball and for all its fans and supporters.

When I got out of Air Force Basic Training I took a flight into St Louis. On the St Louis to Indy flight I met Coach Knight and got his autograph. At the end of the conversation I told him, "Have a great season Coach" This was the year they won it all in 87. In my mind Coach Knight told the players about me, how I was a huge IU fan, how my parents had taped the games while I was in Basic. Perhaps they even had a statue to the unknown Airman and pointed to him for strength during the year. Literally I helped win the 87 title.

 

[Chicago-bound Hoosier]

sat down at 3rd Base Lounge, Oct '89, to grab late lunch and watch some of the Cubs/San Fran NLCS game (I think game 4...I do remember Rick Rueschel was pitching for SF). About 5 minutes after sitting down, I realized that among the group of guys sitting at the round table next to me was none other than RMK. I even heard him comment that Rueschel was a surprisingly good athlete (Rick was a little on the rolly poley side). The entire group got up and left after 15 minutes. And the Cubs season ended about 2 hrs later. I didn't engage with Coach because it was just me alone, and he was with a group and I couldn't come up with an entry comment (or maybe I was just a tad frightened to try?). Looking back now, I should have begged him to try his hardest not to run Funderburke out of town in a few weeks....we might need him on the roster down the road.

 

[Birnk403]

sat down at 3rd Base Lounge, Oct '89, to grab late lunch and watch some of the Cubs/San Fran NLCS game (I think game 4...I do remember Rick Rueschel was pitching for SF). About 5 minutes after sitting down, I realized that among the group of guys sitting at the round table next to me was none other than RMK. I even heard him comment that Rueschel was a surprisingly good athlete (Rick was a little on the rolly poley side). The entire group got up and left after 15 minutes. And the Cubs season ended about 2 hrs later. I didn't engage with Coach because it was just me alone, and he was with a group and I couldn't come up with an entry comment (or maybe I was just a tad frightened to try?). Looking back now, I should have begged him to try his hardest not to run Funderburke out of town in a few weeks....we might need him on the roster down the road.

Joby got the credit for running LF out of town. In fairness, there was a growing line of people who would’ve gladly taken the job had JW not done it.

 

[Sonap]

The 3rd Base Lounge. Have not heard that name in over 30 years.

 

[Chicago-bound Hoosier]

The 3rd Base Lounge. Have not heard that name in over 30 years.

Yep. I’m old.

 

[Crayfish57]

Saw him in the hallway one evening after classes in high School when he was checking Shawn Kemp out . From a distance, didn't want to go that far to bother him as long ways away.

 

[birdforbogey]

diet coke with milk? was he eating liver and oranges?

He's a Laverne & Shirley fan.

 

[crazed_hoosier2]

or stories you have heard?

I just shared one of him, Steve Chancellor and former Hoosier Tom Geyer at the Evansville Deehead tavern in May 2001. Coach Knight was drinking Diet Coke with milk. Had a female EPD officer around them so didnt want to approach. Any and all stories please.

Ps: God bless you Coach Knight, I love you and for everything you done for IU basketball and for all its fans and supporters.

Knight was hunting in Spain with Chancellor, Bush 41, King Juan Carlos, and Gen. Schwarzkopf when 9/11 happened.

Bush 41 apparently had to pull some strings for them to fly home on Chancellor’s jet.

 

[crazed_hoosier2]

I asked for his autograph when I was at his basketball camp. He obliged and asked me who it was for. I said “It’s for me, Coach.”

He shot me that classic Knight scowl of incredulous exasperation and said “Well what in the hell is your name, son?”

 

[hookyIU1990]

sat down at 3rd Base Lounge, Oct '89, to grab late lunch

The 3rd Base Lounge. Have not heard that name in over 30 years.

I lived across the street from 3rd base Aug 88 - July 89. Summer of '88, one of my roommates and a buddy of his were shooting pool and drinking a late lunch when they saw RMK finishing lunch with a couple of guys. They called me and told me to head over. By the time I was able to get there, he was gone. Closest I ever came to seeing coach out in the wild.

 

[Harry Hondo]

First sighting was picking up football tickets in AH as a freshman. Knight was coming out the main doors as I was going in. I didn’t say, “hey, Knight.”

Second time was in the early 90’s. I was in my mid 20’s and working for a video production facility in Indy and we got a call from the HoF wanting an interview with Knight. So me and a colleague drove down and did the interview in the stands with the court behind him. There’s a side story of my colleague locking the keys in the van with our equipment inside and us having a limited time for the shoot, plus we were told he wasn’t in a good mood that day. Suffice it to say, it worked out well and when he didn’t like a question (the HoF sent the questions to ask him) he’d say, that’s a horseshit question, and we’d move on.

Last time I saw him was summer of 2000, I was with a buddy at Yogi’s and Knight came walking in joining Bob Hanmel and a few others for lunch.

 

[MIS01]

I saw him with Nancy at the Octoberfest in Seymour several years ago. (Obviously since he was still married to Nancy at the time.

 

[ThreeToMakeTwo]

The 3rd Base Lounge. Have not heard that name in over 30 years.

I wonder if he means Old Ben Kenobi?

 

[iubud]

or stories you have heard?

I just shared one of him, Steve Chancellor and former Hoosier Tom Geyer at the Evansville Deehead tavern in May 2001. Coach Knight was drinking Diet Coke with milk. Had a female EPD officer around them so didnt want to approach. Any and all stories please.

Ps: God bless you Coach Knight, I love you and for everything you done for IU basketball and for all its fans and supporters.

Strange threesome. Was Steve driving his McLaren? Deerhead instead of Turoni's?

My RMK moment was the summer before 6th grade after the '75 basketball season. I was at the RMK basketball camp. We were playing a game on one the courts in our competition. I saw RMK walking towards us as I brought the ball up the court. I dribbled the ball across half court as far as I could and launched a shot. The ball hit the rim, backboard and back on the rim before falling off. RMK clapped his hands, looked at me and said "Work that ball around!". I was thrilled, RMK noticed me. I used my emergency phone call change to call home to tell my dad. He was proud, but pointed out that it was a miss.

 

[kurt cloverdales]

I was in Puerto rico years ago working security at a tournament had a brief encounter with him, then unbelievably years later I'm working the ncaa tournament and I screwed up on his availability for a post game presser. Seemed to have a short fuse in my 2 chance encounters

 

[gator mcCluskey]

I was in Puerto rico years ago working security at a tournament had a brief encounter with him, then unbelievably years later I'm working the ncaa tournament and I screwed up on his availability for a post game presser. Seemed to have a short fuse in my 2 chance encounters

Interesting. I would’ve pegged you for the braindead hippie panhandling outside that Mexican restaurant...

 

[ThreeToMakeTwo]

Interesting. I would’ve pegged you for the braindead hippie panhandling outside that Mexican restaurant...

Can’t he be both?

 

[Courtsensetwo]

diet coke with milk? was he eating liver and oranges?

The only alcohol I ever saw BK drink was a white wine spritzer.

 

[rikki-tikka-tava]

Bombing down Dunn on my 750 Boxer and braking hard for the stop sign at Kirkwood as Knight in the company of four others are entering the crosswalk - two jump back and two others scoot across but Knight just sort of waves his arms out and freezes in the middle of the street. Momentarily stop alongside him and say, "Fish or cut bait Coach" while punching it and sparing myself what was sure to have been a pithy rejoinder.

 

[kkott]

Strange threesome. Was Steve driving his McLaren? Deerhead instead of Turoni's?

My RMK moment was the summer before 6th grade after the '75 basketball season. I was at the RMK basketball camp. We were playing a game on one the courts in our competition. I saw RMK walking towards us as I brought the ball up the court. I dribbled the ball across half court as far as I could and launched a shot. The ball hit the rim, backboard and back on the rim before falling off. RMK clapped his hands, looked at me and said "Work that ball around!". I was thrilled, RMK noticed me. I used my emergency phone call change to call home to tell my dad. He was proud, but pointed out that it was a miss.

Gunner...

 

[Chicago-bound Hoosier]

I was in Puerto rico years ago working security at a tournament had a brief encounter with him, then unbelievably years later I'm working the ncaa tournament and I screwed up on his availability for a post game presser. Seemed to have a short fuse in my 2 chance encounters

any chance you were ref'ing the 85 home game vs Purdue along with Hightower?

 

[wi_hoosier]

Strange threesome. Was Steve driving his McLaren? Deerhead instead of Turoni's?

My RMK moment was the summer before 6th grade after the '75 basketball season. I was at the RMK basketball camp. We were playing a game on one the courts in our competition. I saw RMK walking towards us as I brought the ball up the court. I dribbled the ball across half court as far as I could and launched a shot. The ball hit the rim, backboard and back on the rim before falling off. RMK clapped his hands, looked at me and said "Work that ball around!". I was thrilled, RMK noticed me. I used my emergency phone call change to call home to tell my dad. He was proud, but pointed out that it was a miss.

Turoni's instead of Roca Bar?

 

[jwalther]

Spring break 1982, my freshman year in Bloomington. Five of us road tripped to Daytona, then went back through NOLA for that year's Final Four. We rolled into NOLA early in the morning after driving through the night. We crashed in a dorm lounge at Tulane (fast forward 29 years-my son just graduated from Tulane), then woke up and wandered around campus clad in our IU gear. We found the gym, and as we opened the door, Coach Knight walked out. We smiled, said hey coach, and he walked right past without acknowledging our presence. He was/is a complicated man.

 

[MG80]

Spring break 1982, my freshman year in Bloomington. Five of us road tripped to Daytona, then went back through NOLA for that year's Final Four. We rolled into NOLA early in the morning after driving through the night. We crashed in a dorm lounge at Tulane (fast forward 29 years-my son just graduated from Tulane), then woke up and wandered around campus clad in our IU gear. We found the gym, and as we opened the door, Coach Knight walked out. We smiled, said hey coach, and he walked right past without acknowledging our presence. He was/is a complicated man.

He had his game face on. It was one of the best.

 

[The Mooreman]

Freshman Year, 1981. It was a Fall weekend, the FB team had a road game, campus was dead, my roommate and I were bored, so we took a stroll over to AH. Back in those days, you could roam free at AH, take a self-guided tour and walk the floor. After about 45-minutes, we're heading out, hit the head for a leak and proceeded to clear out the bathroom of all the toilette paper (because whatever little $$$ I had back then was not going to be wasted buying TP). We walk out of the head (looking like the Michelin Man, with TP rolls stuffed down our coats), and who comes "lumbering down" the hall...RMK. And, by the hurried "rush" in his gait, you could tell he was in need of the bowl. One problem tho...we just cleared out the head of all available TP...not good. We walk the opposite way and hear RMK open the stall door, put the seat down and by the time you can count 1-2-3, we hear "Goddamit...there's no F****** toilette paper in here and I'm gonna have somebody's A**. We never got caught, but that "close encounter" with the General still gives me nightmares to this day.

 

[kkott]

Freshman Year, 1981. It was a Fall weekend, the FB team had a road game, campus was dead, my roommate and I were bored, so we took a stroll over to AH. Back in those days, you could roam free at AH, take a self-guided tour and walk the floor. After about 45-minutes, we're heading out, hit the head for a leak and proceeded to clear out the bathroom of all the toilette paper (because whatever little $$$ I had back then was not going to be wasted buying TP). We walk out of the head (looking like the Michelin Man, with TP rolls stuffed down our coats), and who comes "lumbering down" the hall...RMK. And, by the hurried "rush" in his gait, you could tell he was in need of the bowl. One problem tho...we just cleared out the head of all available TP...not good. We walk the opposite way and hear RMK open the stall door, put the seat down and by the time you can count 1-2-3, we hear "Goddamit...there's no F****** toilette paper in here and I'm gonna have somebody's A**. We never got caught, but that was a "way to close encounter" with the General that gives me nightmares to this day.

I think during the '79-80 season a friend of mine (I was a soph in HS) and I tagged along with my Mom, who had some sort of training at IU and roamed the campus for a day. Naturally we went to AH and the team was just getting ready to practice. We were walking down the ramp to sneak a peek when a grad asst was walking out with a player. He almost let us pass but then asked what we were doing and we told him just visiting and wanted to watch. He said practice was closed and we should leave. We went up to the balcony area and crept over to watch practice. We were trying to stay hidden but our voices must've carried when RMK yells: "practice is closed, you boys need to leave!" I always knew RMK would notice me if he only had the chance.

I also had a friend in Columbus OH who was a good athlete and RMK came to one of his games to scout a player on the other team. My friend said he guarded that kid and worked hard to shut him down, and my friend ended up scoring 30+ that game. Never heard from RMK though and he said he left the game early. He ended up playing at Capital U in Columbus.

 

[IndyAuthor]

This happened during the 90s Converse era. I worked downtown and Karen Knight was a regular customer. She often came in with a friend from Colorado and they would always work me for deals ("If we buy 3 of those and 5 of these, how much can you knock off?") It was entertaining, not obnoxious and I always enjoyed their visits. Karen would also call me to do orders over the phone. She would have us ship to places or just run in and pick it up. I would always write a note thanking her for her business, etc.

We used to move a lot of Chuck Taylors and even did mail orders to other college towns (pre internet/Amazon). Once IU signed with Converse, our sales went even higher. So, this put us in the top 10 accounts in the region (despite being a local shop) and we got invited with the rest of the top dealers to an IU practice. Afterward, we had dinner with the coaching staff at Assembly Hall. Everyone was given a basketball to have signed by Coach Knight and we lined up.

There were 2 of us from the store and my co-worker was in front of me. When Coach asked him who to make it out to, he said the store name. Coach Knight immediately looked up, then glared directly at me and said, "you're the guy who's been writing notes to my wife."

I froze. There was an awkward pause and I said, "umm yeah, she comes in with her friend from Colorado."

He got a big grin on his face as if he knew he had made me just crap my pants and said, "yeah, she's an old horse trader from Denver. I bet those two ran you ragged."

To this day I don't know how he knew it was me and not my co-worker. He never came in with his wife.

 

[GeorgeStrait IU]

Freshman Year, 1981. It was a Fall weekend, the FB team had a road game, campus was dead, my roommate and I were bored, so we took a stroll over to AH. Back in those days, you could roam free at AH, take a self-guided tour and walk the floor. After about 45-minutes, we're heading out, hit the head for a leak and proceeded to clear out the bathroom of all the toilette paper (because whatever little $$$ I had back then was not going to be wasted buying TP). We walk out of the head (looking like the Michelin Man, with TP rolls stuffed down our coats), and who comes "lumbering down" the hall...RMK. And, by the hurried "rush" in his gait, you could tell he was in need of the bowl. One problem tho...we just cleared out the head of all available TP...not good. We walk the opposite way and hear RMK open the stall door, put the seat down and by the time you can count 1-2-3, we hear "Goddamit...there's no F****** toilette paper in here and I'm gonna have somebody's A**. We never got caught, but that "close encounter" with the General still gives me nightmares to this day.

Winner!

 

[MTBRider]

Love hearing the stories about the different run ins with Coach!

I had a layover at the Dallas airport in '17 or '18. Walked up to my gate and was standing checking emails on my phone. I had probably been there 5 minutes when the guy I'm with walks up and taps me on the shoulder and whispers, "Hey, there's your man Bobby Knight". I looked up and sure enough, probably 10 feet away, sat Coach with his wife. I noticed a couple of things while we stood there for the next 15-20 minutes. He sat kind of hunched over, holding his wife's hand and caressing it the entire time he was awake. He seemed very old. Then he would doze off and the second he would, Karen would instantly look up and just glare at the people standing around like she was the protective mother bear. He would wake up, immediately start caressing her hand again and she would relax. Doze back off and the same reaction....this probably happened 3-4 times. The guy I was with even made the comment, "Screw being scarred of Bobby, I wouldn't mess with the wife!" The best part was once their plane started to board, RMK basically jumps out of the seat he was in, stands straight as an arrow and does his "power walk" straight to the plane. He was like a totally different person and looked damn near identical to when you would see him storming off the court at halftime....just a totally different persona from him sitting there in the chair. Not much of a story like some of you have, but it did really strike me, kind of the two sides of the guy.

 

[Birnk403]

A ton of stories, but here are a couple of quick ones:

Saw him smile and pat on the back a kid (and future Big 10 player) who dunked hard enough to bend a rim at his basketball camp. He also told him there would be no more dunking for the rest of the week.

Saw him, Bill Mallory and Rick Fox cloistered in a corner of the old dining area under Memorial Stadium trying to have a conversation. People were kept away and they weren’t there long, but it was kind of a cool scene. Later saw them walking through the parking lot headed to AH.

Watched him lead an older couple down the steps to the floor level at AH. Not sure but believe they were just looking around, and he served as their docent.

Saw him basically evict a player’s parent from the team’s bus after a game. Funny and pretty lighthearted, but he meant it.

 

[Courtsensetwo]

Freshman Year, 1981. It was a Fall weekend, the FB team had a road game, campus was dead, my roommate and I were bored, so we took a stroll over to AH. Back in those days, you could roam free at AH, take a self-guided tour and walk the floor. After about 45-minutes, we're heading out, hit the head for a leak and proceeded to clear out the bathroom of all the toilette paper (because whatever little $$$ I had back then was not going to be wasted buying TP). We walk out of the head (looking like the Michelin Man, with TP rolls stuffed down our coats), and who comes "lumbering down" the hall...RMK. And, by the hurried "rush" in his gait, you could tell he was in need of the bowl. One problem tho...we just cleared out the head of all available TP...not good. We walk the opposite way and hear RMK open the stall door, put the seat down and by the time you can count 1-2-3, we hear "Goddamit...there's no F****** toilette paper in here and I'm gonna have somebody's A**. We never got caught, but that "close encounter" with the General still gives me nightmares to this day.

Good story. i would have gone back, opened the door and rolled one under the stall door.

 

[gator mcCluskey]

A ton of stories, but here are a couple of quick ones:

Saw him smile and pat on the back a kid (and future Big 10 player) who dunked hard enough to bend a rim at his basketball camp. He also told him there would be no more dunking for the rest of the week.

Saw him, Bill Mallory and Rick Fox cloistered in a corner of the old dining area under Memorial Stadium trying to have a conversation. People were kept away and they weren’t there long, but it was kind of a cool scene. Later saw them walking through the parking lot headed to AH.

Watched him lead an older couple down the steps to the floor level at AH. Not sure but believe they were just looking around, and he served as their docent.

Saw him basically evict a player’s parent from the team’s bus after a game. Funny and pretty lighthearted, but he meant it.

🤔

 

[iubud]

Turoni's instead of Roca Bar?

The original Roca Bar was good but I wasn't impressed with the one in Newburgh.

 

[Birnk403]

🤔

Just trying to help you learn more about the guy. It should help.