Bob Knight & Assembly Hall
I don’t know if he’s still doing it, but for a very long time, Dick Vitale was relentlessly calling for IU to rename Assembly Hall to Robert Montgomery Knight Assembly Hall. Nevermind the fact that the school usually doesn’t name facilities after someone until after that person has died. And although Knight has retired from coaching, he’s far from dead.
I think there was also a time that Vitale lobbied for the court to be named after Knight, similar to Coach K Court at Cameron Indoor. But the court has already been named after Branch McCracken.
Strike two.
The thing is, Knight already has a lasting legacy at Assembly Hall. And I’m not talking about the three NCAA Championship banners that hang from the rafters there.
Here’s a hint:
If I remember correctly, Tom Crean even tried to pick up a chair this season during one of the games where the officiating was especially terrible.
He couldn’t.
Why? Because of Knight’s lasting legacy at Assembly Hall.
If you look closely at the chairs, you’ll notice that they are essentially tied together and bolted to the floor.
Why don’t they just name it the Robert Montgomery Knight Team Bench? Maybe Mr. Vitale could start lobbying for this name-change. It would be a fitting tribute, don’t you think?
And I’m only half-joking.
On a somewhat related note, does anyone remember a song that was played on the radio during IU’s 1987 tournament run that had the line, “Come on, Bobby Knight, throw some chairs tonight. And Stevie, shoot a three-pointer!”? I’ve looked all over for a recording of that.
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Yeah, I recall the song from ’87.
It was based on the Boxtop’s song “The Letter.”
“shoot from 20 and you score,
next year make it 24 (that’s NBA))
Stevie, shoot a three pointer.”
I thought the radio station WSTO put that out. They did one in ’92 when they went to the Final Four. That one was based on Johnny B. Goode.
I wonder if they have the song in their archives somewhere. I’d totally buy a copy of it!
I seem to remember a small “controversy” about the song – that it used to say, “Steve Alford, shoot a three-pointer,” but there was concern about NCAA violations. So it was changed to Stevie. Does that sound familiar at all?
I remember that the NCAA said that they would keep Steve Alford from playing because of his name being in the song, so one of the DJs – Brian Jackson maybe – said that they would create a new song that included the name of every player of the opposing team! lol
I have a copy of the song – as I worked at WSTO. And, yes there was a controversy with the NCAA – so we changed the lyrics and played it even more. We even had t-shirts made up. Good times . . .
Any way I could get a copy of that song? That would be amazing!
Get me an address and (after I find it) I’ll drop you a CD.
I can’t stop singing the song now. And that’s a good thing. 😀
Thanks for making my year! Shoot, maybe even my decade.
Any way we could get a digital version of that song posted somewhere? I grew up in Evansville and have fond memories of it; as a 7 year-old I was just becoming a sports fan at that time. There is very little about it on the Web, only 3 mentions that I can find.
I haven’t been able to find it online anywhere. Hopefully, the good people with Furry Head & the Favorites will someday make this most amazing song available for the entire world to enjoy again!
Scratch that. I just found this:
http://watchevansville.com/play/Entertainment/Stevie_Shoot_a_3Pointer
Oh, happy day!