My Two Cents: 40 Years Later, Returning to Chair-Throwing 'Scene of the Crime'

I looked at Tim and said ''did he just do that?''

It was over the top and uncalled for, for sure. But the Indiana fans cheered him anyway, chanting ''Bobby, Bobby'' as he walked off the floor after being ejected. Purdue would win the game 72-63.

And that was our basketball weekend.

As it turned out, Knight turned the moment into something special. He apologized, but still got in a shot at the Big Ten for its shoddy officiating and game management. "While I've been very concerned at times with the way some things have been handled in the Big Ten ... I do not think my actions in the Purdue game were in any way necessary or appropriate.''

No kidding.

From there, Knight made light of it and turned it into a comedic shtick, with the local media and even on national TV appearances with folks like David Letterman. Knight could laugh through a story about how he saw a woman across the court without a place to sit, and he was simply helping out by giving her a chair.

And through the past 40 years, there are now hundreds of thousands of autographed pictures on Knight throwing the chair. I had one person tell me they thought it was the coolest moment in IU basketball history, an extreme exaggeration to be sure.

But it became one of those moments that was attached to Knight forever, just as much as his three national titles and 902 wins. To the average American, he was ''that guy who threw the chair.''

You've got to give the Big Ten schedule makers a pat on the back for having Indiana and Purdue on the schedule Sunday to celebrate the anniversary. Indiana coach Mike Woodson was a fifth-year NBA player with the Kansas City Kings the day Knight threw the chair. Purdue coach Matt Painter was a teenager in Muncie, Ind. at the time, and a big IU fan.

Yeah, a lot does change in 40 years.

I'll be back at Assembly Hall on Sunday for the 40-year anniversary of the chair toss. We won't see a repeat, of course, because all the chairs on both benches are now chained together.

Since I've been back at Assembly Hall for almost every game since 2019, I always laugh when I walk by the benches and see them locked down. It's pretty funny. Indiana was never going to let that happen again.

There will be no celebration today to mark the occasion, though I would like to have them show the video again on the scoreboard for a few seconds. The crowd would go wild, because Bob Knight could do no wrong in the eyes of most IU fans. Even going 19-14 and 7-11 was OK back then. There was no talk of firing him. (For the record, Indiana is 15-11 and 6-9 in the Big Ten heading into Sunday's game.)

Even though there was only 17,000 people there that day, there are probably 100,000 people who say they were there. I'm guessing I'm in a pretty small group who was there 40 years and will be there today. (Tim's annual trip is Wednesday for the Penn State game and a team meeting.)

I was glad the timing worked out well in 1985 to see this craziness. For many, it's their favorite IU game just because of Knight's toss. It's not for me; I'd rank others far higher, like Knight's return in 2020, my first game back in 1976 and dozens of great wins and individual performances.

It was a one-shot deal, and that's good. I'm glad i saw it with my own eyes.