All the way back at West Point in the mid-to-late 1960s, Bob Knight may have discovered the best fundamental way to battle against the dog days of June and July.
It's called the Bob Knight basketball camp, a longtime national pioneer in teaching, fundamentals and honing the skills of the game.
The camp, which began in Lubbock for the first time June 22, has attracted more than 51,000 campers from throughout the world since Knight's coaching days at Army in the '60s. This year, the number could approach 600 campers at Texas Tech though Aug. 5, continuing a tradition that dates back to the Knight-developed "station" concept of basketball coaching at West Point and Indiana.
"He invented that; there's no question about it," said Howard Garfinkel, who runs the nationally acclaimed Five-Star basketball camp. "Other coaches have took that and used it in their camps. They have stations. Some have it for their players in the offseason and the season. All of that was started by Knight."
The concept is simple: Players rotate through different stations, where each features a different skill instruction for a certain amount of minutes. At Tech, the boys basketball school features two sets of instructional stations each day, developing players from grades 3-12 with a system that's become one of the most popular in the nation.
Knight, now the head coach at Tech, often drew 2,000 campers per summer during his tenure at Indiana. His biggest draw was more than 3,000 at Indiana in the mid-1990s, according to his son Tim Knight, who coordinates his father's camp.
Before Knight's hiring at Tech in March, Tech's boys summer basketball camp never usually drew more than 400 campers. The number likely would have been much higher this year if not for the late start of the promotion campaign. Knight was hired March 23. Under normal circumstances, mailings go out 1-2 months earlier than that. Tech sent brochures this year to 14-15 states.
"My dad was one of the first guys in America to have a camp when he was back at West Point," Tim Knight said. "So he's been doing it longer than anyone else and doing a very good job. We'll have kids fly in from all over the country. Obviously, now that it's here for the first year, there's a lot of excitement and a lot of Texas kids."
Most of them summarize their attraction to the camp with just two words: Bob Knight.
The former Hoosiers coach speaks to campers twice a day, commanding the undivided attention of players and spectators alike at United Sprit Arena.
Just ask Chris Gibson, a 14-year-old player from Loop.
"That's why I came," Gibson said. "He really knows how to teach fundamentals, especially screens and cutting to the basket."
Much of it gets drilled into campers during the stations period, where Knight made his mark with the Five-Star camp in 1967.
The story goes like this: Five-Star needed a "name" head coach to boost the camp in its second year of operation. The camp then attracted Knight, the coach at Army since 1965. He was hired for $50 per day for seven days, which was "four times as much as I made," Garfinkel said, jokingly.
"The first thing he did was ask, 'What can I do for you to make this camp good?"' Garfinkel said. "I said, 'Whatever you want.' He said, 'Well, we're putting in stations.' I said, 'Stations? There's no trains here. What do you mean stations?"'
The rest, as they say, is history. Prior to Knight's one-year stint at Five-Star, the camp was run in an "unwieldy" fashion, Garfinkel said. All campers would listen to a lecture, break into groups, work on the instructions of the lecture and then start all over again.
After Knight, his concept became the "heart, soul and backbone of our camp forever," Garfinkel said. Five-Star now boasts 4,000 campers and claims to have more graduates playing college or pro ball than any other camp organization.
Knight's camps have made a similar impact. An estimated nine NBA players have attended the Knight camp, all of whom came away schooled in Knight's trademark discipline, a daily trait of the camps.
Take his first week of camp in Lubbock, for example. One young camper who overslept was told to run laps around the arena concourse. Others were told they had two minutes to clean up the water cups around the court at the USA. If it didn't happen on time, "We're going to run you till you drop," said Pat Knight, Knight's son and assistant coach.
The boys team camp runs through Monday before a second session of the Knight camps starts July 29. In contrast to his previous camps, Knight has added a post and guard camp after spending time developing it with Tech women's basketball coach Marsha Sharp.
"We've never done a camp like that before," Tim Knight said. "We spent time with Marsha and her staff seeing what they do for that camp. I know she has a very good camp, and I hope that in my dad's second or third year here, we can get our numbers close to where Marsha's numbers are."
Individual camper fees range from $175 to $325. Applications can be obtained at 742-7600.
Brent Schrotenboer can be reached at 766-8733 or at bschrotenboer@lubbockonline.com
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