On Wednesday, the college basketball world lost a legend of its sport when Bob Knight passed away at the age of 83.
His family shared a statement on Knight’s official website shortly after his passing, saying:
“It is with heavy hearts that we share that Coach Bob Knight passed away at his home in Bloomington surrounded by his family.
We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers, and appreciate the continued respect for our privacy as Coach requested a private family gathering, which is being honored.
We will continue to celebrate his life and remember him, today and forever as a beloved Husband, Father, Coach, and Friend.”
The all-time great basketball coach had many famous (and infamous) moments throughout his career, winning three national titles at Indiana University, and becoming the 6th winningest coach in college basketball history.
Knight also had some not-so-great moments at Indiana, which ultimately led to him losing his head coaching position there. He was known to be a hot-head, choking one of his players during a practice in 1997, and who could forget his legendary chair toss during a game against Purdue?
After his passing, the sports world has dug up all kinds of stories, videos, and moments from Knight’s career, and they’ve all been great to revisit.
Whether it be his open hatred of the media, or his speech about wanting to be buried upside down so all of his critics could “kiss his ass,” the man was an absolute content machine.
And in his heyday, a now well-known comedy movie asked for his help with a scene, and the title of the film literally could not have been a better fit for Bob Knight.
There’s a good chance that you forget about Coach Knight’s cameo in the 2003 comedy Anger Management featuring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson.
I won’t say spoiler alert since the movie is 20 years old, but just to clear things up, Sandler’s character was forced to enter into anger management classes with his therapist being the always-incredible actor Jack Nicholson.
Adam Sandler walks into a room for his anger management session, and there sits the legendary basketball coach Bob Knight (which makes a lot of sense).
I’ve got the video attached below, but just in case you wanted to read through the dialogue, I’ve included it as well:
Sandler: “Oh my goodness, Bobby Knight, you’re in this group?”
Knight: “Well yeah, this is my first day.”
Sandler: “This is my first day also.
Knight: “I hope this class cures me.”
Sandler: “Working on the anger problem?”
Knight: “Anger? Isn’t this sexaholics anonymous?
Sandler: “No, I think that’s down the hall.”
Knight: “Well the hell with this! I’m going home.”
The magazine slam at the end was perfectly executed by Knight, and was probably commonplace in his college basketball coaching days.
Take a look:
