Whether unfairly or not, Hall of Fame coach and current ESPN college basketball analyst, Robert Montgomery Knight, will forever be best known for his tossing a chair across the court incident during an Indiana/Purdue game back in 1985.
While most may not agree with “The General’s” methods of expressing himself on and off of the court, no one can deny he was a genius on the hardwood both as a player and a coach, as evidence of his 3 National Championships with the Hoosiers and more than 900 career NCAA Division I wins.
Knight has more than proven himself to be an icon in college basketball for not only his hoops acumen but also his propensity towards a good sound byte or entertaining press conference. Who could forget the time he used a drinking glass to predict the future, his ’08 Volkswagon commercial poking fun at the chair tossing incident, or his hilarious interview explaining his favorite word.
While all of his antics may overshadow his supreme skills as a recruiter, motivator, and in game strategist, everyone always comes back to his most memorable moment on the sidelines, the now infamous chair he tossed across the floor to get the attention of some Big Ten Conference officials, most namely Teddy Valentine and London Bradley, whom Knight had quarrels with on a nightly basis in his heyday. Most casual fans account of the situation was that Knight tossed the chair at the officials but a closer look shows that he casually tossed the chair a good 10-15 feet in their direction to, both get their attention and make a point to fire up his squad.
Even though the Boilermakers eventually won the game 72-63, all anyone remembers is Knight’s now infamous chair heaving incident. Although Knight probably wouldn’t want the spectacle to be remembered and immortalized, it definitely goes down as one of my most memorable moments in NCAA history.
Check out a video featured on Sportscenter showing Bob Knight’s Top 10 Soundbites:
Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.
