Their battles on the hardwood were fierce, but their friendship has proven to be much stronger.
For 20 years, Purdue’s Gene Keady and IU’s Bob Knight led opposing teams in the top basketball rivalry in basketball crazed Indiana.
While many IU fans grew to dislike Keady’s legendary combover, jacket-throwing tirades and the physical style his teams played with — there was no such vitriol when it came to Keady and Knight away from game.
They were friendly throughout their coaching tenures, even before Keady arrived at Purdue, and their relationship only grew into retirement.
Keady’s long overdue induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame came over the weekend. His enshrinement speech was only two minutes, but in those remarks he carved-out time for Knight, along with Michigan State’s Tom Izzo.
“I must mention fellow Big Ten coaching icons and Hall of Fame coaches Bob Knight and Tom Izzo,” Keady said in prepared remarks played via video during his enshrinement at the Hall of Fame. “Bob and Tom were worthy opponents and rivals, but are even better friends.”
In a recent story by On3’s Gold and Black, Keady talked more about his affection for Knight as a basketball coach.
“I liked what he stood for,” Keady said of Knight. “He didn’t cheat. He coached hard. He was in a great league, and I wanted to be like that. I tried to copy it, but I didn’t quite get there.”
The praise has been passed back-and-forth between the coaching legends through the years.
“In all my time coaching, nobody ever worked harder at playing or worked harder at winning than Gene Keady,” Knight said in 2017 when the pair appeared together at an event at Purdue.
After their respective retirements, Keady and Knight have made multiple public appearances together, and there have been several private meetings behind the scenes as well.
Keady was there in 2020 when Knight made his celebrated return for a game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall against Purdue, and the pair made an appearance together later that same day at an Indiana Pacers game.
Izzo, who has been a long-time close friend of both Keady and Knight, wrote an endorsement to push for Keady’s Hall of Fame induction, and presented him on Saturday.
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