FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – During his time in the Hoosier State, Bob Knight was based in Bloomington. However, ‘The General’ occasionally made his way to the Fort, as Knight spent a fair amount of time in the Summit City.

A 1976 Red Coat recipient, Knight was a frequent – and popular – face at the Mad Anthonys Charity Golf Classic.

Back in 1991, Knight was the keynote speaker at the first “Steak and Burger” dinner to raise money for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Fort Wayne. Twenty years later Knight returned, preaching the value of an education to Fort Wayne’s youth during his speech at the fundraiser in 2011.

In 2016 Knight was at the Glenbrook Square Mall for a signing session when he became part of a reunion 30 years in the making. Back in 1986 Knight stopped by Norwell to help raise money for a then-five year old Nat Leamon, who has cerebral palsy. Leamon, now grown, brought the newspaper article from their first encounter to Knight, with Knight writing “you could have played for me” on the article.

In 2017 Knight and Purdue legend Gene Keady headlined an evening at the Embassy, and Knight graciously granted WANE-TV a sit-down interview. The interview was scheduled to last three minutes, but ended up lasting almost twelve as sports director Glenn Marini and the coach talked basketball, politics, and the coach’s reverence for Fort Wayne. It was Knight’s last-known trip to the Summit City.