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Indiana Coach Bob Knight once ejected from game against UTEP in El Paso

Trish Long, El Paso Times
·2 min read

Bob Knight became synonymous with Indiana University basketball, in 29 seasons he led the Hoosiers to three national championships, 11 Big Ten championships and one National Invitation Tournament title.

Knight was known for his passion and was famously ejected from a game against Purdue on Feb. 23, 1985, when he threw a chair into the crowd. El Pasoans may remember the time he was ejected from the Sun Bowl Basketball championship.

Bob Knight death

Legendary Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight has died at the age of 83, according to a post on bobknight.com, a website that represents Knight and his foundation.

Bobby Knight, left, watches UTEP Coach Don Haskins clown around before a UTEP-Indiana game on December 16, 1989.
Bobby Knight, left, watches UTEP Coach Don Haskins clown around before a UTEP-Indiana game on December 16, 1989.

Bob Knight ejected from Sun Bowl Basketball Tournament

The following is from a Nov. 21, 2019 Tales From the Morgue column:

A reporter from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram called me this week, trying to verify some information for an obituary on Tommy Taylor, a longtime Fort Worth educator. Taylor was a replay official for Southern Methodist University football and officiated TCU basketball for more than 30 years.

In El Paso, he was the official who ejected Indiana coach Bobby Knight from the 1972 Sun Bowl Basketball Tournament championship game against UTEP.

Law escorts Bob Knight off the floor

Dennis Kincaid reported in a Dec. 30, 1972, Times article, "Paced by a second half scoring performance by sophomore Frank Keton, and the all-around play of freshman Gary Brewster, the University of Texas at El Paso knocked off 15th-ranked University of Indiana 74-65 to win the 12th annual Sun Bowl Basketball Tournament in Memorial Gymnasium Friday night.

"With 7:03 remaining in the second half, Indiana head coach Bob Knight found his team behind 63-48 and a call by one of the Southwest Conference officials didn't please him. At this time, Knight came off of his chair and went after the official verbally and in return received three technical fouls on the mentor, and the local law escorted Knight off the floor."

Trish Long may be reached at tlong@elpasotimes.com.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Bobby Knight once ejected from game against UTEP in El Paso