Dale was created as Knight-like in many respects. If you’ve seen Hoosiers, you’ll remember Coach Norman Dale excluding Hickory residents from practice because he tolerated no interference. I was given access to team practices, which was a very big deal in learning how Bob Knight basketball was played. But then, in a fit of anger, he fired a basketball at me. Our coach/writer relationship continued until late 1973, when it came to a jarring end. Knight said he’d help me however he could. I wasn’t yet 22, having graduated from IU in May. Knight wasn’t quite 31 when he arrived in Bloomington. I introduced myself in late summer/early fall of 1971. But was he a strident, off-putting tyrant? Not then. Oh, he was a disciplinarian, prone to bursts of temper and foul language. 25, 1973.īut this wasn’t the Bob Knight I knew when I covered his arrival and his first two-plus seasons with the Hoosiers. One of Royalty’s articles for Courier-Tribune, Feb. While he always had a handful of media favorites, he earned a reputation for belittling journalists or refusing their presence altogether. If you’re among the millions who cast Knight aside years ago as a profane bully, you might be surprised to read this. Knight and Owens made not just a truce, but over time, a friendship. Listening to Owens’ side of the conversation, it became clear the ice was melting. Flustered, I managed, “He’s sitting about 10 feet away. Young Pup Sportswriter how to build a better relationship. I remember Owens cackling when one headline blared, “Hoosiers Snatch Defeat from Jaws of Victory.” Knight’s contrasting style was a taste yet to be acquired by the veteran sports editor. He’d spent many years covering the Hurryin’ Hoosiers. Owens was the Courier-Tribune’s sports editor. What do I need to do to get on the same page with this guy?” The conversation began something like, “Dennis, I don’t know what to do about Bob Owens. I’d become acquainted while covering the IU basketball beat, but this was a surprise. The same Bob Knight known for humiliating or ignoring most sportswriters. The caller? Bob Knight, IU basketball coach. It was the early 1970s in the sports department of the Bloomington Courier-Tribune, my first full-time job after college. Royalty and his wife, Ginger, live in Prescott Valley, Ariz.īelow is an excerpt from Royalty’s unpublished memoir of his time as a reporter, specifically his coverage of the Hoosiers and his relationship with former IU men’s basketball head coach, Bob Knight. In 2015, he retired from Eli Lilly and Company where he worked in internal communications. Dennis Royalty, BS’71, is a retired reporter and editor who covered the Hoosiers in the early 1970s. His extensive reporting and writing career included 27 years with The Indianapolis Star. Following graduation, he was a sports writer for the former Courier-Tribune in Bloomington, Ind. As a student, Royalty worked for the Indiana Daily Student as a reporter and sports/news editor. Knight coached the IU men's basketball team from 1971 to 2000 and delivered three NCAA championships, one NIT championship, and 11 Big Ten championships.ĭennis Royalty, BS’71, is a retired reporter, editor, and columnist who covered the Indiana Hoosiers in the early 1970s. Bob Knight, center, chats with Quinn Buckner, BS'76, left, and Scott May, BS'76.
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