| | Former Indiana basketball star Steve Alford denies a report that
Hoosiers coach Bob Knight once punched him when Alford was a
player.
|  | | Bob Knight and Steve Alford were thought to have a good relationship at Indiana. |
Alford, now the head coach at Iowa, said comments about the
alleged abuse by his former Hoosiers teammate, Ricky Calloway, are
incorrect.
"Nothing along those lines ever happened," Alford said Sunday
in a statement issued by the Iowa sports information department.
Calloway told the Houston Chronicle he once saw Knight punch
Alford and slap forward Daryl Thomas on different occasions during
practices.
"We were all standing in a circle one day, and he (Knight) just
turned around and punched Steve right in the stomach, and for a
minute and a half Steve couldn't breathe," Calloway said in
Sunday's Chronicle.
"I was shocked. I wasn't really surprised he hit someone, but I
never expected him to hit Steve, his golden child. But Steve put up
with a lot."
Calloway also told the Chronicle that Knight doesn't abuse all
of his players when he gets angry, only those he knows won't fight
back. He said Thomas was one of those players.
"Coach knew the guys he could hit or really get into, and those
he couldn't. Daryl was a big guy (6-foot-7, 240 pounds), but coach
knew what type of personality Daryl had. He (Knight) was mad at
him, and Daryl was sitting in his chair, and he (Knight) just came
up and slapped him, and it was hard. Then he realized what he did
and said, 'Go ahead and hit me back.'
"Yeah, he realized what he did was all wrong, so he knew he had
to try and correct it by telling Daryl to hit him back. But Daryl
hit him real soft, and I remember when we got back to the dorm room
we were like, 'Man, you should have hit him hard.' "
Calloway started as a sophomore on Indiana's 1987 national title
team and transferred to Kansas for his senior year.
He played a year in the NBA in Sacramento, but now runs a
swimming-pool construction company in Houston.
Calloway said he is breaking his 12-year silence on Knight after
seeing how another former Indiana player, Neil Reed, has been
vilified for his recent comments about the issue.
In an interview with CNN/Sports Illustrated, Reed claimed Knight
choked him during a practice session, prompting numerous denials
from former Hoosiers players and coaches.
Two Indiana University trustees agreed last week to investigate
Reed's claims against Knight.
Other than saying he didn't remember choking Reed, Knight has
refused comment on the incident.
Attempts by The Indianapolis Star to reach athletics director
Clarence Doninger on Sunday were unsuccessful; Knight was at a
baseball exhibition game Sunday in Winter Haven, Fla.
In the Houston article, Calloway praised Reed for speaking out.
"Everybody says he's lying about all the abuse at Indiana, but
he's not," Calloway said about Reed. "It took a lot of courage
for him to come forward like he did."
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