Bobby Knight went down as one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history, but he was also a rather controversial figure. There was one too many instances where Knight lost his temper, and former NBA star Ralph Sampson recounted arguably the most infamous one of the lot on the All The Smoke podcast.
“Me and Isiah [Thomas] were the first two high school athletes to make the Pan American Olympic team,” Sampson said. “So you go back and look at Bobby Knight was the coach and [Mike] Krzyzewski was the assistant coach. We were in Puerto Rico… we were going to practice, and we had a time like one o’clock to be on the court. And the [Brazilian] girls’ team was like 10 minutes over.
“So Bobby goes down and talks to the police officer and say, ‘They got to get off the court,'” Sampson continued. “He’s screaming, hollering. He’s moving his thing, whatever. And he does like this, smacks the cop… So we got to come out of the Olympic Village and go get sequestered in a hotel.”
This incident Sampson is referring to occurred during the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico. To lose your temper to this extent over something as trivial as another team occupying a practice court for 10 additional minutes is ridiculous.
Knight was charged with aggravated assault for allegedly punching Jose Silva, the San Juan police officer. The then-Indiana Hoosiers head coach would leave the island before his trial was held, though, and refused to return. Indiana officials also rejected extradition requests from Puerto Rico.
Knight would be tried in absentia and was found guilty. He was sentenced to six months in prison and was given a $500 fine. Knight would have been unaffected by any of this, but his palms might have started getting a bit sweaty in 1987. That was the year the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a law that gave state governors the power to reject extradition requests.
Fortunately for Knight, German Rieckehoff, then-president of the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee, urged officials not to pursue action against Knight. The 1987 Pan American Games were to be held in Indianapolis, and Rieckehoff didn’t want the Puerto Rican athletes to be subjected to adverse fan reaction.
That would have been music to Knight’s ears, and he sent a letter to Rieckehoff in which he apologized for the incident.
“I feel very sorry for all the bad understandings that resulted from that incident and deeply appreciate those people like you who, whether they agree with me or not, are willing to bring this chapter to a close,” Knight wrote, via UPI.
So, Knight got off scot-free. While the officials at the top had gotten over this incident, Silva continued to hold a grudge. He certainly wasn’t shedding any tears when Indiana fired Knight in 2000 after 29 seasons at the helm for violating a zero-tolerance policy regarding his behavior. Silva told the New York Post at the time that the coach had used a racial slur as he was being hauled to jail for hitting him.
“Get your dirty hands off me, n****r,” Silva recounted Knight saying.
Knight was only behind bars for about 10 minutes, though. Silva said he was later pressured to drop the charges as the incident would affect relations between Puerto Rico and the United States, but he went ahead regardless.
Knight not facing any consequences would have stung Silva, but his firing brought him joy. He wouldn’t be without a job for too long, though, as he became head coach for the Texas Tech Red Raiders in 2001. He would revive the program and eventually retire in 2008.
In 42 seasons as a head coach in college, Knight won three national titles and compiled a 902-371 record. He had success on the international stage too, winning the gold medal at the 1979 Pan American Games and the 1984 Olympics.
