Knight’s chair fling one anniversary that doesn’t get tossed aside

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Those closest to Steve Reid know him as president of a trucking company, a former teammate and a dad.

Some even remember him as a color commentator on Purdue basketball broadcasts.

However, most others know Reid as the answer to a trivia question.

For 20 years, his life has been defined by one enduring image – Bob Knight hurling a red, plastic chair across the basketball court as the 5-foot-9 Reid stood at the free throw line for Purdue.

“There are times I walk into a meeting or a friend calls to say ‘I saw you on TV last night,’ ” he said from his Georgia home. “I know what they’re talking about.”

Like other famous trivia answers – Wally Pipp, for instance – Reid’s name will forever be linked to the question: “Who was the guy?”

The chair toss also remains a defining moment in the Indiana- Purdue rivalry. The teams meet again today, one day short of the 20th anniversary of Knight’s throw.

Purdue coach Gene Keady is the last remaining major link to the outburst and he will be coaching his final game at Assembly Hall.

Two decades ago, Keady walked into the postgame news conference after a 72-63 win and insisted the important thing was Purdue won.

He was wrong.

In Reid’s mind, the red speck he noticed out of the corner of his eye never faded. Nor did the ensuing collapse – he missed 3 of 6 free throws as Knight was tossed from the game and Reid was promptly scolded on the sideline by Keady.

Knight, fired by Indiana in 2000 and now coaching at Texas Tech, has coped with it by poking fun at himself over the years.

During speeches, he sometimes recounts a tale of spotting an old woman behind the basket who needed a chair, so he tossed it to her.

What ignited the outburst was a scramble for a loose ball at midcourt. Indiana’s Daryl Thomas drew his second foul five minutes into the game when Knight insisted it should have been a jump ball.

Knight was called for a technical, but before Reid shot the free throws, Knight grabbed a chair with two hands and flung it toward the basket.

Knight apologized the next day and Big Ten officials gave him a one-game suspension.

Two decades later, Reid said he still has not spoken to Knight. The only correspondence came through an e-mail that Reid sent after reading “Knight: My Story.”

In the note, Reid said he enjoyed hearing the other side of the story and agreed the call should have been a jump ball, not a foul.

Reid said Knight sent an appreciative reply.