Quinn buckner biography

Quinn Buckner was having a tough time. It was 1972 and two men were at him. Harping at him. Constantly. Giving him basketball advice.

His father, William Buckner. And, perhaps more important at the time, Indiana University coach Bob Knight.

"My mother, God bless her soul, she's 92 now, she said to my dad, 'Buck. You got to leave that boy alone,' " Buckner recalled. " 'He can't serve two masters.' "

His dad laid off. Knight didn't.

"At times coach Knight was upset about something and I tried to talk to him and it was clear he wasn't going to have anything to do with me," said Buckner, who was a freshman point guard at the time.

He even thought about bolting IU for another school, but his dad came to Knight's defense.

You can think about going to another school, William Buckner told him, or you can understand that this is the way Knight communicates and get used to it.

"That was the switch," Buckner said. "That's the way coach Knight communicates. He was right 99.9 percent of the time, so I fully embraced what coach Knight was saying."

That Hoosiers team went on to become one of the best in college basketball history, finishing with an undefeated season in Buckner's senior year and winning a 1976 NCAA championship against Michigan 86-68.

Louie Dampier's devastating road to Basketball Hall of Fame

On Friday, Buckner will be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City, honored for his 108-12 career record with IU, including 59-5 in conference play and his three years as captain of the Hoosiers squad.

Buckner also won a gold medal on the 1976 U.S. Olympic team, an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 1984 and led his Thornridge High School team in Dolton, Ill., to back-to-back state titles.

Add all that and Buckner is one of just three players in history to achieve all four of those feats — an NCAA, NBA and high school championship and an Olympic gold medal. The other two are Magic Johnson and Jerry Lucas.

Buckner — now vice president/communications for the Indiana Pacers and a television analyst for the team on Fox Sports — is the fourth former IU player to be inducted in the College Hall of Fame, joining Branch McCracken, Walt Bellamy and Isiah Thomas, who were honored in 2006 when the Hall was established. Coaches Knight and Everett Dean also were inducted in 2006.

Buckner chatted on Thursday as he prepared for his honor.

Will coach Knight be there for your induction?

"I don't know. I haven't asked him. And I won't ask that of him. I know in his heart he knows. If he's available to come, he will. If not, I'm not offended. One way or another, he's my coach. I'll always love him. We share memories that are very rare. If he doesn't come, he will be there in spirit."

What's it like to be one of three guys in basketball history to achieve all those titles?

"It's weird. Nobody starts thinking that way, that they are going to try to do this. One person thought about it. That's Magic (Johnson). In 1992, I was working for NBC in Barcelona with the (U.S. Olympic basketball) team (that won a gold medal) and he said, 'I finally got you.' He had his eye on it. That's typical Magic. He wants to be among the elite in the group. Me, I always wanted to be part of a successful group. That's the only way I ever looked at it."

Which win means the most to you?

"They're all very important, but winning the gold medal, I'm hard pressed to say there is anything better than that. It was one of the things I wanted to do. I had watched the Olympics since I was in fourth grade."

You're famous for beating up rims in the NBA with your low-trajectory shot. True?

"The fact was I wasn't a very good shooter. I wasn't a very good free throw shooter. Danny Ainge and Larry (Bird) and even Kevin McHale, they were teammates. They all could really score. I was the least likely one to get the ball to go into the basket. They called it a tornado. I didn't release it fully off my left hand. It spun. You see guys breaking their necks to get in to get the free throw after I'd shoot. When Larry shot, they didn't do that. They knew his would go in."

How the basketball success, then?

"I think everybody who struggles with scoring, you have to figure out where you can make a contribution. My dad was very good about the psyche of athletes. If you go left, next time go right. It's more of a chess game within the game, how to set guys up. You have to think about the process of playing. That's what I was able to do."

You also were known as a tough guy on the court.

"The only way I could play at that high level was if you're going to beat me, I don't care offensively or defensively, you've got to beat me at every play. I may get popped in the face with an elbow and I'd act like it didn't happen. My dad always said, 'Don't ever let them see you quit. If he hits you, just keep playing.' It's the mental approach. I was mentally tough."

As a stellar football player as well, even playing two years at IU, what made you settle on basketball for a career?

"Just quite frankly, I'm not crazy. I wasn't trying to get my brains beat up. I grew up playing sports. My dad made sure we played sports. We played football and basketball, but basketball was just what everybody did. I enjoyed it more. Seemed to be a good choice."

Follow Star reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow.