Burgess Neil Reed (November 29, 1975 – July 26, 2012) was a college basketball player at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

and the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

. He was noted for an incident during which he was choked by controversial Indiana coach

Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...

in 1997.

Biography

Reed played high school basketball at

South Spencer High School South Spencer High School is a public high school in Reo, Indiana. The school educates about 471 students in grades 9 to 12 in the South Spencer School Corporation district. Athletics The school's athletic nickname is the "Rebels", and it parti ...

in Reo, Indiana, as a freshman,

Bloomington High School South Bloomington High School South (simply referred to as BHSS or South) is a public high school in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Monroe County Community School Corporation. Athletics The Panthers compete in the Conference ...

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Indiana, Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside ...

, as a sophomore, and

East Jefferson High School East Jefferson High School is a public high school located in Metairie in unincorporated Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. It serves portions of Metairie and Kenner.Jefferson Parish, Louisiana Jefferson Parish (french: Paroisse de Jefferson; es, Parroquia de Jefferson) is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 440,781. Its parish seat is Gretna, its largest community is Metairie, and its ...

, as a junior and senior. Reed was named the Louisiana High School Boys Basketball Player of the Year in March 1994. Reed played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

with the

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the Nationa ...

for three seasons, and after sitting out a year, one season with the

Southern Miss Golden Eagles The Southern Miss Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles (also known as Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles) are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), located in Hattiesburg, Missi ...

. Reed appeared in a total of 122 games, scoring 1426 points (11.7 ppg). He led the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...

percentage for the 1996–97 season (.854), and led

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

in the same statistic for the 1998–99 season (.845). Indiana appeared in the NCAA tournament during each of Reed's three seasons there, losing in the first round in March 1995,

March 1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on ...

, and

March 1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic (1997 film), Titanic'', the List of highest-grossing films, highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; ...

. On March 14, 2000, the

CNN Sports Illustrated CNN/Sports Illustrated (CNN/SI) was a 24-hour sports news network. It was created by Time Warner, merging together its CNN and ''Sports Illustrated'' brands and related resources. It was launched on December 12, 1996. Other news networks like E ...

network ran a piece in which former player Reed claimed that he had been choked by Indiana coach

Bobby Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...

during a 1997 practice. Knight denied the claims in the story. However, less than a month later, the network aired a tape of an Indiana practice from 1997 that appeared to show Knight choking Reed.CNN.com - Fired Bob Knight calms angry student demonstrators - September 11, 2000
Knight was later dismissed from Indiana, in September 2000. Reed's life after basketball included work as an intern at

ESPN The Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998. Initially published every other week, it scaled back to 24 issues a year i ...

. In 2007, he joined

Pioneer Valley High School Pioneer Valley High School (PVHS) is a public comprehensive high school in Santa Maria, California, United States. The school is the newest campus in the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District, opening to a class of freshmen and sophomores ...

Santa Maria, California Santa Maria (Spanish language, Spanish for "Mary, mother of Jesus, St. Mary") is a city near the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California in northern Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara County. It is approximately no ...

, as a

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

teacher, later coaching boys basketball, boys and girls golf, and football. Reed died at the age of 36 following a massive heart attack, at the Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria, California, on July 26, 2012. Reed was married to Kelly with two children, Marley and Presley.

References

External links

The Last Days of Knight , 30 for 30 Trailer , ESPN
via

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Bob Knight CNN/SI Report
via YouTube
Bob Knight Chokes Neil Reed
via YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Neil 1976 births 2012 deaths Basketball players from Arkansas Basketball players from Louisiana East Jefferson High School alumni High school basketball coaches in the United States Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players People from Metairie, Louisiana Southern Miss Golden Eagles basketball players Sportspeople from Hot Springs, Arkansas American men's basketball players Guards (basketball)

Biography

References

Further reading

External links