Bob Knight’s biggest assist on a basketball court had nothing to do with passing the ball.
It did, however, illustrate why he is this year’s First Citizen. Wednesday’s ceremony was an opportunity to detail some of Knight’s civic involvement since 1997, when he arrived as commander of Vancouver Barracks.
Knight now is president of Clark College, a high-profile position where he manages to make below-the-radar contributions to the community. One of them was at that basketball game.
In his nomination letter, Rick Takach wrote how Knight organized a basketball team to play at Larch Corrections Center, where Clark College offers classes.
In 2008, one of the Larch players approached Knight.
“He came up to me after the basketball game and asked me about getting into Clark College,” Knight said Wednesday at WareHouse ’23.
Knight gave him a business card.
“To be honest, I didn’t think I’d hear from him,” Knight said.
The Larch inmate started writing to Knight, who learned that the young man had been arrested as an accomplice to an assault when he was 18. A public defender talked him into a plea bargain for a three-year sentence. He was sent to the state penitentiary at Walla Walla, then to the minimum-security facility in north Clark County.
When the young man was released on Jan. 1, 2009, Knight drove to Larch to pick him up. He had $40 and a cardboard box containing everything he owned, Takach wrote.
Knight helped him enroll at Clark College. After some housing setbacks, the young man moved in with Bob and his wife, Paula, for about a year.
Knight invited him to the afternoon presentation, although it was not going to be a sure thing. The young man has a full-time job, and “He’s working until 5 p.m.,” Knight said.
Off Beat lets members of The Columbian news team step back from our newspaper beats to write the story behind the story, fill in the story or just tell a story.
