For those who don’t follow sports, Bob “Bobby” Knight is a man who made his name in the sport of basketball, coaching major college programs such as Indiana University (where he cemented his legacy as a coach by winning three national championships), and Texas Tech where he coached in the twilight of his coaching career.

While the list of Knight’s on-the-court accomplishments appear to be plentiful, the opposite can be said about Bob Knight as a person off the court. In a 1988 interview with famed media personality Connie Chung, Knight appeared to celebrate the raping of women, stating that “if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it”. In spite of making such an atrocious remark, white society’s reverence for Knight remained as strong as ever. However, his star power would lose some of its luster in 2000 when the news broke that Knight was physically assaulting students. White supremacists and suspected white supremacists alike often dismiss accounts of Knight’s bigotry towards Black players–simply dismissing the coach’s shenanigans as a ‘competitive fire’ used to galvanize the players on his team. In 2000, a Black NBA coach by the name of Butch Carter (who played for Knight at Indiana U) wrote a book which claimed that Knight called his players “niggers”, including his soon-to-be NBA bound star player, Isiah Thomas.

It was written in Carter’s book that the coach “does not like educated, strong-willed Blacks”. This would probably explain why Knight has openly criticized the current climate surrounding the game of basketball, in which Black players are making unlimited amounts of money while taking the trajectory of their careers into their own hands.

Fast forward to last night’s primary in the state of Indiana, and Bob Knight steps forward to announce his endorsement of Donald Trump. “There has never been a presidential candidate prepared to the length that this man is. You will be helping our government take the first step toward what all of us want our government to be like”, the former basketball coach told the crowd of Trump supporters on hand.

While many people would overlook Bob Knight’s endorsement of Donald Trump as happenstance, it should be noted that suspected white supremacists of Knight’s ilk oftentimes have open access to Black youths–namely young Black males–where they become revered as “father figures” and mentors to these unsuspecting Melanoid youth…only for them to expose their suppressed white supremacist tendencies and hatred (for Black people) years after countless young Black men have been groomed and influenced by them. Bob Knight and his role in the lives of young Black men over the years highlights the desperate need for strong Black male leadership for the next generation of Black males.

B. Clark