Indiana held its Hall of Fame ceremony over the weekend, which means that we can stop talking about this forever in, like, a minute or two. I promise. In the meantime, Bob Knight's friend Bob Hammel -- former editor of the Bloomington Herald-Times -- accepted Knight's award on behalf of the man himself. The emotional depth of Hammel's speech was nothing in comparison to if Knight had actually accepted the award himself, but for a proxy, Hammel did a pretty convincing job:

"What those numbers don’t say is what made Indiana so special, ’cause everyone knew that what Bob Knight was doing at Indiana was kicking the slats out of that perennial excuse that you have to cut a few corners, that you have to cheat a little bit. Everybody would have loved to catch Bob Knight cheating on something and they never could. The never did and they never would. That alone, coming at a time when they graduated kids and were bringing in great kids and putting together the model program in college basketball, is why this night had to happen. Tonight is recognition that those really were priceless days. The time of distancing a great university from a coach and players who contributed richly to that greatness is over."

Weirdly, no one mentioned the way Knight left the school, and no one mentioned the things Knight did throughout his tenure that ended up contributing to his firing. Weird, huh? Coach K might still be a little confused about this, but whatever. It sounds like a very pleasant ceremony, and hey, maybe it was a positive Knight didn't show up. Things could have gotten even weirder. 

Then again, Knight's contribution to the outing -- besides the very large shadow his absence cast over the proceedings -- was the letter he wrote to Indiana AD Fred Glass, which Hammel read at the ceremony. It managed to be both conciliatory and slightly catty, and it thanked a whole bunch of folks you might otherwise never have heard of, so it's probably worth a read. Which you can do after the jump.

Dear Mr. Glass,

The attention and speculation relative to my attending your Hall of Fame induction would be greatly increased if I were to do so. I think this approach from the media would take a great deal away from the other people being inducted, and I don’t think it would be right for this to happen.

In addition to this, I just have too much negative feeling toward some people and the things they did or did not do during my last few years and who had no understanding of either athletics or honesty.

I have now and always will have a tremendous appreciation for the support our teams were given by the student body and fans all over the state of Indiana. When I left Indiana I did my best to let them know how much I appreciated their contribution to the success of our team. I still feel that way about them. However, there is no one I could appreciate more than the players who played during my tenure and were most responsible for the success that we had during those years.

I would like to especially congratulate Steve Downing and Joe Norman. I had an opportunity to coach one and watch the other play. They both are tremendous examples of what a student athlete is and should be.

I will always be indebted to John Ryan and Bill Orwig for giving me the opportunity to coach at Indiana. No coach has ever worked for a better president than John Ryan or better athletic directors than Bill Orwig and Ralph Floyd, who both had a great understanding of athletics and what it took to win.

There were other people during those years who were very helpful to our program and athletics in general, such as Dick Stoner, Ed Cady, Bill Armstrong, Paul Dietzel, George Pinnell, Curt Simic, Buzz Kurpius and her staff, Anita Aldrich, Ken Gros Louis and Ed Williams, who were very much involved and helpful to our basketball program.

Another great asset was the medical care provided our players by Brad Bomba, Jim Strickland, Larry Rink and Dick Shelly. The popularity of our basketball program was greatly enhanced with the media work of Bob Hammel, Chuck Marlowe and Bob Collins.

You are the only person in the administrative capacity at Indiana in the last ten years to say thank you for what we did, and I appreciate your doing so. You mentioned in your letter to me that you would like to sit down and talk with me any place or at any time. I would be willing to do this and would suggest that you bring Bob Hammel with you as he would be a great help in your understanding why I feel as I do.

It is obvious that the people who replaced the aforementioned people over the years have not nearly maintained the standards with Indiana’s athletic program that those people established. I would hope that during your tenure you would be able to get Indiana athletics back where it once was and want to wish you the very best in that regard.

Sincerely,

Bob Knight

OK then. Hooray, Bob Knight! You win. Now let's never speak of this again.

Related: Big Ten Basketball, College Basketball Media