Indiana University Athletics
Transcript Of Bob Knight Press Conference
6/17/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Bloomington, Ind.- Here is a transcript of Indiana coach Bob Knight's comments from a Wednesday news conference, along with quotes from a police officer and Knight's wife, who also spoke:
Coach Bob Knight
"When you're accused of something that you didn't do, and when this is battered about pretty carelessly by a lot of different institutions ... I've been there before. I was in Puerto Rico 20 years ago next month. Before this thing happened, just a couple weeks ago I read an article where I was found guilty in absentia for punching a Puerto Rican police officer.
"And that was it period. That was all that was said. That part's true because I was found guilty in absentia, but I certainly didn't do it.
"That had long since been attested to by 12 kids that played for me on that Pan American team, by three coaches that were with me and by two kids from Columbia who happened to be sitting in the stands.
"So two weeks ago, I read not that while I was found guilty in Puerto Rico, everyone associated with the American basketball team firmly denied. That wasn't in there.
"So this and the way some things transpired today, this is just another thing. There's no relief in this. I told the prosecutor and I initiated the call yesterday.
"I mean, if the Monroe County Prosecutor's office had investigated Charles Manson, it still would be undecided based on this thing. During the time this prosecutor has been in office, a case that's classified as a misdemeanor lasts at the most no more than three days.
"He said, well, there wouldn't be many and I said let's just call it none. There was no response to that. I really don't appreciate being treated differently from anybody else in Monroe County. I don't care that my name happens to be Knight instead of Jones. I don't think that calls for any different treatment.
"I said I'd really like for you to charge me and then we could go to court because we could really get everything out that's been discussed by the witnesses.
"Nobody is ever going to know. If I'm not mistaken, he said today that the records were sealed or put away or unavailable from this point on. That wouldn't have been the case if we had gone to court with it.
"Apparently he made a comment that a couple had come forth this morning. This wasn't through any great effort on the prosecutor's part. The lady in that couple happened to see this on the Internet. I don't even know how the Internet works, but I'm glad we have it. I'm glad this lady subscribes to it and I'm sure glad she's a hell of a lot smarter about how to use it than I am. She saw something to this thing on the Internet and told her husband we've got to straighten this out. We sat in front of Coach Knight and his family the other night and this absolutely did not happen. And she went on from there.
"Another thing that came out of that ... it's kind of interesting. In my conversation with the prosecutor ... I told him everyone had commented in this thing except me. You people interviewed all kinds of people, and you know, Hell, I'm always anxious to be interviewed. Nobody interviewed me. The prosecutor graciously consented to be interviewed a time or two. Do politicians like to be interviewed?
"So I called to tell him I'm going to have a press conference today. I said what time are you going to make an announcement on this. I said three o'clock, and I said that's what time I was going to have the press conference. And he responded by saying, 'Well, do you want me to move mine up?' I'm going to tell you if I'm the prosecutor and the basketball coach is going to have a press conference, I'm not going to move mine up. But then maybe this would have interfered with his coverage, who knows?
"The comment was made relative to the lady and her husband that came forward that (the prosecutors) were waiting for an unbiased witness. There were already at least three people from the restaurant who had given statements that totally corroborated what I said, what Karen said and what her two sisters said.
"I'm not really sure about the definition of the word unbiased. Does unbiased mean totally removed? Does unbiased mean, well, somebody that won't lie? At least three people at the restaurant had given the exact same account of what happened that this man and woman did this morning.
"I think it takes a little bit. These have to be two wonderful people, two people who at this point whose names I don't even know. And yet they came forward to help somebody. That's really nice.
"Yet, these were not the only unbiased information that came forward.
"The information that is available to the prosecutor's office at this moment was available to them no later than Wednesday of last week. There's been a little additional corroboration by this man and his wife, but essentially it's exactly the same. I don't know why there have been three postponements to this -- Friday, Monday, Wednesday.
"I really have no idea. I do want to thank the prosecutor because I know a lot of people are reluctant to get up and talk. I think it was great of the prosecutor to hold six or seven press conferences. I know a lot of people are reluctant to have their names in USA Today and I think it's to his credit he isn't.
"I talked to a lot of law enforcement ... and without exception these things are immediately thrown out or resolved in two days. I've been through enough of these things, sometimes I just go fishing or play golf. I don't think my wife and her two sisters had to be put through seven or eight additional days of this stuff.
"I don't think anybody along the way has thought of them as victims. I'm not a victim. I don't think of myself as a victim. Target maybe, but not a victim. But these three gals are victims.
"I can't expect everything you folks (write) to be accurate. Apparently, he has determined not to press charges and at the same time used these phrases in answer to questions ... the other party initiated the confrontation in the restaurant and then reinitiated it outside. Again, I'm not sure what his definition of provocation is, but when somebody initiates and then reinitiates, I think somebody's probably going to get provoked over that. But that's my understanding of what provocation might be.
"Karen has been unbelievably good for me.
"There's an article on Indiana basketball in USA Today talking about our recruiting and how six kids in Indiana chose not to come to Indiana. Well, the interesting part of that is we had not offered any of those kids a scholarship. How many inaccuracies were there in that article? Gregg (Elkin, Indiana's basketball media relathons director) called the writer about this and it was amazing the answers Gregg got.
"Karen has been great through all this, if I've been irritated about something. But you know the other night, I think it was Monday night after the second postponement of this thing. We had just come back from watching the Cardinals play Saturday and Sunday. We're sitting at home and we're both reading. I could see she was going to say something. So I put my book down and I looked at her. She said, 'You know, if you're ready to quit, I'm ready to go.' I'd never heard anything like that from her before, even remotely close to that.
"I'd like to refer to this whole thing from start to finish as a real Mickey Mouse operation. But that would be an insult to Mickey Mouse.
"I'll just finish by saying this. I would hope that wherever I am or whatever I'm doing -- as long as I'm not in the middle of casting a fly, hitting a golf ball or at a game -- that people, really good people, fans, people that have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of Indiana basketball, will never hesitate to come up to me and ask me to sign an autograph and thank me for the kind of basketball we play.
"I've done this thousands of times, and there are
people in here that have been with me literally thousands
of times when I've done this with people. I think they've
always kind of thanked me in that way for something that
they've enjoyed. I really appreciate people over the
years and almost without exception, they've really been
good. I hope they won't let that prevent them -- wherever
they might see me -- from doing that.
Sgt. J.D. Maxwell, Indiana State Police
"As sure as there is a God in heaven, I know that Coach Bob Knight is not a racist."
Karen Knight, the coach's wife
"Usually I am the first person that tells him he needs to just walk away from these things, back up, don't worry about it. But being involved and being there with my two sisters -- one who had come from Oklahoma to visit -- and after this happened, I didn't get to see her for two days. It just totally disrupted our lives."
"He tried to walk away and wasn't allowed that privilege. I think at some point, we have to have rights. We have to have a right to go out to dinner and have a conversation with our family. It was a perfectly harmless conversation. And if he had actually heard the actual conversation, he would have known that. He wouldn't have been able to say the things he did. We should have some protections so that someone can't come up and continue to harass you until you are forced to respond. I don't know where the law is on that, but there need to be some rights for people in his position that if he's provoked, you have a right to defend you family, you have a right to defend yourself at some point."
