No, you hadn't told me that. That's interesting. How did you happen to talk with him, out of curiosity? God, I miss Bob Knight! And speaking of his time at Ohio State, here is another story. Ohio State & Wake Forest had a home & home contract for the 1959-60 & 1961-62 seasons. That, in itself, was kind of unusual. The first game was the opening game of the season on December 1, 1959, at Columbus. All the talk was about the two top-rated sophomore big men who would be playing their first varsity game: Jerry Lucas & Len Chappell. I had an afternoon newspaper route at the time (13 years old) that I delivered on my bike. I rushed home to find the game on the radio (no TV then). Wake actually led by 5 points at the half, before Ohio State prevailed by 77-69. Big men tend to develope a little slower than guards, I suppose....at least Len Chappell did. My first favorite WF player, senior guard George Ritchie (whose #22 I later wore on my high school team) led the Deacs with 20 points and little Billy Packer (also playing his first game) wowed the crowd with 18 points. The second game in the contract skipped a year and was played at Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem on the second weekend of Chappell, Packer & Lucas' senior year, December 9, 1961. By this time, Ohio State was ranked #1 in the nation after winning the NCAA title in 1960 and losing to Cincinnati in the championship game in 1961. And Wake Forest, after reaching the Elite Eight in 1961, opened the season ranked #3 in the nation. So, obviously, this was the biggest game in the country at the beginning of that season. Unfortunately, Ohio State was simply too good. They led Wake 37-31 at the half and turned the game into a rout, winning by a score of 84 to 62. I was crushed, as I had visions of Wake winning that game and being ranked #1 in the nation. Of course, I didn't know Bob Knight off a Christmas Tree at that time. As you probably know, he didn't start on those great OSU teams, but came off the bench as the 6th or 7th player. That game in Winston-Salem was probably one of his better games, at least by the stats. He played 14 minutes and scored 7 points.
And there is a "rest of the story" to the Wake Forest/Ohio State episode. After the Buckeyes absolutely crushed the Deacs on their home floor, Wake's coach Bones McKinney said in his post-game comments that he still thought that he had the better team, and that "if Ohio State played well enough" they would meet again. Everyone pretty much thought that ole Bones was off his rocker, as the only way they could meet again would be in the Final Four at Freedom Hall in Louisville. They doubted him even more after Wake dropped a 101-99 game at West Virginia on January 31st to fall to a 7-7 record on the year. From a #3 ranking to 7-7! To say that this team was underperforming would be a gross understatement. Somehow, though, Bones lit a fire under them from that point on. After a couple of wins and a tough road loss at Virginia Tech, the Deacs reeled off 12 straight wins....and when they beat Hubie White & Villanova in the Eastern Region finals at College Park, they were 21-8 and headed to Louisville for Bones' promised rematch with Ohio State. It almost didn't happen. In the first NCAA game before the regional, Wake played a lackluster game against Yale at the Palaestra in Philadelphia. Probably overconfident, the game was tied with three seconds to play. Wake had the ball out of bounds in the forecourt and Bones called for a lob pass inside to Chappell. The problem was that Chappell was called for his 5th foul trying to get to the ball. This put Yale on the free throw line with a chance to win the game. I still remember the free throw attempt by a guy name Schumacher rolling off the rim to get us to overtime. A sub named Tommy McCoy took over from there and the Deacs rolled in the OT. Then in the first regional game against St Josephs, things looked even more bleak. With 1:02 to play, St Joe led by 6 with Chappell on the free throw line. He made both shots to cut the lead to 4. Wake got the ball back about 30 seconds later and Billy Packer hit a 20-foot jumper with about 20 seconds left to cut the lead to 2. Wake fouled with about 10 or 12 seconds left, and again the opponent missed the one and one. And once more, this time just before the buzzer, Packer hit another 20-footer to force overtime. Then in the overtime, Wake won easily again.
Unfortunately, the anticipated rematch against Ohio State turned out to be more of the same, as Wake was just overmatched by Lucas, Havlicek, Nowell, Siegfried & Co, with the Buckeyes winning by 84-68. Wake then defeated UCLA 82-80 in the 3rd place game to fnish the season 3rd in the nation....right where they had started the season. (By the way, that UCLA loss to Wake Forest was UCLA's last loss in the NCAA Tournament for the next 12 years, until NC State beat them at Greensboro in the 1974 Final Four semi-finals. The Bruins didn't play in the NCAA Tournament in 1963 or 1966, and they won the title in 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 & 1973.)
