By Ryan Palencer
BROWNSBURG — While enjoying one of their regular Thursday lunch meetings, the Brownsburg Rotary Club welcomed a former Indiana University basketball player, Pacer, and Olympic Champion July 30.
Quinn Buckner, who was a senior on the 1976 undefeated Indiana University basketball team, was on hand to discuss the happenings of his current employer, the Indiana Pacers.
“They asked for someone from the Pacers to come and share what is going on with our organization and our players, and what we’re doing in the community,” Buckner said. “I do that, that is one of my responsibilities. I don’t see it as a responsibility, it’s what I do.”
The meeting also included a question and answer segment for Buckner. He said that the opportunity to get fan input is important.
“(Getting the fan reaction) is very important,” Buckner said. “If you’re in any kind of environment, particularly when you are in services, you need to understand exactly the kind of service that people want. Part of what it does is tell your story and a sequence of stories from your perspective and let everybody digest that as a whole. It’s a terrific opportunity for us.”
After leaving Indiana University, Buckner played in the NBA for 10 years, winning a championship with the Boston Celtics in 1984. Buckner was also part of the 1976 gold medal-winning U.S. basketball squad. He has won a championship at every level of basketball — high school, college, the NBA, and the Olympics.
In his current capacity, Buckner gets an opportunity to realize how much he means to Indiana basketball fans.
“What’s been interesting is Coach (Bob) Knight said at one point, ‘You’ll never understand the joy that you have brought to the people of the state of Indiana,’” Buckner said. “I was a young man and really had no clue, but as I have been back, I have had the opportunity to speak at various places and hear some of the memories that people have gotten from those things. I have a better perspective on that and just honored to be a part of what Coach Knight did at Indiana University.”
Buckner knows that basketball has had crucial impact on his life.
“I don’t have most of the things that I have as an adult — my family — if it wasn’t for the game and Coach Knight,” Buckner said. “I am eternally grateful. It’s been the driving force behind me because it was one of those things that my parents could use at a very young age as either the stick and the carrot kind of routine. You can play if you do what’s right. For all practical purposes, it’s been at the center of what I’m about.”
ryan.palencer@flyergroup.com
