Monday, Feb. 10, 2020 | Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com
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The General returns Bob Knight comes back to Assembly Hall 20 years after he was fired. By Matt Cohen mdc1@iu.edu | @Matt_Cohen_
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here was no true guarantee he'd be there until he came into view. The former IU players being honored from the 1980s and 1990s came out first, one by one. But the crowd was waiting for one more man, the one they had come to see. Fans cheered across the sold-out Assembly Hall as each pillar of Indiana basketball took the floor, but there was a sense of anticipation among the clamor. They had heard the rumors. They had waited outside for hours. And now they were here, arms outstretched and clutching phones, determined to document the improbable. A tribute video played on the scoreboard before switching to a camera pointed down the empty southeast tunnel. Soon, the former players began to file in. They had come from the tunnel that connects Assembly Hall to Cook Hall, where a reunion for the 1979-80 IU men’s basketball team took place. But they weren’t the ones fans were waiting on. There was still one man to follow. Nearly two decades ago, he was fired from coaching IU’s men’s basketball team. He vowed to never return. But Saturday afternoon, Bob Knight emerged from around the corner. * * * Knight, now 79, took each of the steps up to the stage at the Bluebird Nightclub in Bloomington with two feet, one hand holding the hand of a former player and the other gripping the rail. On a November day,
the room filled with the sound of his name. "We love you Bobby!" "Thank you, Coach!" The General looked out at an audience of fans that loved him unconditionally. He had lived in Lubbock, Texas, 1,000 miles away from that kind of love for nearly 20 years. “This was a great place to coach,” he said to the crowd. “And more importantly than that, we just about beat everybody’s ass.” He praised the fans, announced raffle winners and made crude jokes. He was asked if he wanted to return to Assembly Hall, where he won three national championships, choked a player, threw a chair, gave an interview naked and became the winningest coach in IU history. Where he swore he’d never return. “Let’s go tomorrow,” Knight said. There was a women’s basketball game the next day. He didn’t go. When rumors spread across social media that he would return for a January game against his alma mater, Ohio State, he didn’t go either. He did attend a college basketball game in Indiana that day, at Marian University, 50 miles from Bloomington. He’s visited Bloomington High School South for a game — a team led by IU signee Anthony Leal — and he visited Indiana State University for a practice. It all seemed like some sort of elaborate tease. He had quietly slipped back into town early in the fall, moving into a house on the east side of Bloomington, not far from where he used to live in his coaching days. A house two miles from the arena where he built his legacy. His shadow here is so long, his legacy so funda-
Portrait of Camilla Williams unveiled at IMU By Michelle Lie mlie@iu.edu
A portrait of Camilla Williams was revealed at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the East Lounge of the Indiana Memorial Union. Williams was an IU voice professor and an opera singer. Professional singer Camilla Williams joined the New York City Opera in 1946 where she was the first African American to perform as the lead role in “Madama Butterfly." In 1954, she was at the Vienna State Opera to perform her signature role as Cio-Cio-San. She traveled through Asia, Europe and Africa. She joined IU’s faculty in 1977 as the university's first African American voice professor. She retired in 1997 and was later awarded the IU President’s Medal for Excellence, the highest honor an IU president can bestow. She continued living in Bloomington until she died in 2012 at 92 years old. Gwyn Richards, the David Henry Jacobs Bicentennial dean, and Marietta Simpson, voice professor of the
ALEX DERYN | IDS
Former IU men’s basketball head coach Bob Knight puts his fi st in the air with former IU men’s basketball player Isiah Thomas at halftime Feb. 8 in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. This was Knight's first appearance in Assembly Hall since being fired nearly two decades ago.
mental to this town, it’s difficult to imagine him casually sliding into a booth at Chili’s or ordering a milkshake at Culver’s. His departure was so ugly, his exile so bitter, it’s hard to picture he’d ever wear red again. But he’s never hated IU basketball. Those in his inner circle say he’s never stopped loving Bloomington or its fans. They say he’s as happy as ever back in this community once again. ESPN broadcaster and longtime friend Dick Vitale knew Knight planned to move back to Bloomington long before the public. He knew what Knight said he missed in Texas, what he was only able to find here. “To be back around a lot of his friends and people that mean so much to him over the years, brings back a lot of great memories,” Vitale said in a January phone call. “That must be really a thrill.” Knight still seethes with animosity for the IU administration that fired him. He’s publicly wished them dead. “As far as the hierarchy at Indiana University at that time, I have absolutely no respect whatsoever for those people,” Knight said in 2017 on the Dan Patrick Show. “I hope they’re all dead.” For some, he’s lived to see that wish come true.
City Council approves new apartment complex By Natalie Gabor natgabor@iu.edu | @natalie_gabor
RAEGAN WALSH | IDS
Marietta Simpson, rudy professor of voice for the Jacobs School of Music, reacts to the unveiling of the new portrait of world-renowned opera singer Camilla Williams Feb. 5 in the Indiana Memorial Union East Lounge.
Jacobs School of Music, unveiled the portrait of Williams. In the painting, she is wearing a blue dress and a grand piano sits in the background. The portrait will be hung in the IMU near the East Lounge alongside other successful women at IU, such
as Elinor Ostrom. Ostrom won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Gerard Erley, the artist who painted the portrait, said he researched SEE PORTRAIT, PAGE 4
SEE KNIGHT, PAGE 3
The Bloomington City Council approved ordinances requiring a cap on administrative and towing fees for residents and a plan to build a new apartment complex at Wednesday night’s meeting. The council voted 8-0 for an ordinance rezoning 3.2 acres of land on the east side of the city located at 105 S. Pete Ellis Drive. The area will be rezoned, and Curry Urban Properties will build a new four-story apartment complex building there. The new apartment complex is still in the preliminary planning stage. The initial plan includes 264 units, 344 bedrooms and more than 300 parking spaces. Tyler Curry, petitioner for Curry Urban Properties, said he hoped Bloomington residents would see a positive effect on the community with the addition of the new com-
plex. “We’re promoting walking, we’re promoting bus routes and we’re promoting bike routes and I think that increases the quality of life,” Curry said. “This will be the nicest building anywhere close to that area.” The council did not approve every condition necessary to begin construction, as they were unable to agree upon the parking-to-tenant ratio within the building. The council also discussed an ordinance that would require a cap on administrative and towing fees for Bloomington residents. The council voted 7-2 to send the ordinance back to a committee to consider changes to it. The ordinance outlines a requirement for accredited towing companies to apply for or renew their licenses to operate business. It also would require a cap on fees for nonSEE CITY COUNCIL, PAGE 4