One in an occasional series

Team Penske president Tim Cindric played basketball at Pike High School on the northwest side of Indianapolis and, like many Hoosiers, was a big fan of then-Indiana University coach Bob Knight.

“In Indiana, you were either an Indiana fan or Purdue fan," Cindric said. "For me, it would have been a dream to play for Bob Knight. That was my dream. Obviously, that never happened. But having the chance to get to know him was something. As a kid I didn’t miss too many IU games, put it that way.”

Cindric would continue his basketball career at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., and is a member of the university's Hall of Fame. He also had the opportunity to spend some quality time with Knight.

“I went to the Super Bowl weekend when the New Orleans Saints played the Indianapolis Colts in 2010," Cindric said. "My wife was down in Miami with me and went to a charity function where Mario Batali was having brunch. That morning she called me while I was on the beach and she told me one of the auction offerings was a fly-fishing trip with Bob Knight.

"She asked, ‘Would you be interested in that? What’s my limit?’ I told her, ‘Don’t lose.’ That was her limit – don’t lose. I took my college roommate with me and one of the guys I played basketball with at Rose-Hulman and it turned out to be the experience of a lifetime to spend three days fishing with Coach and one of his friends.”

Do you have a different perspective of Knight after spending three days with him?

“My eyes were opened in many areas," Cindric said. "I had a lot of respect for him and the opportunity of a lifetime to spend every hour of the day with him for three days fishing.”