(Editor’s note: With Allen Community College set to celebrate its centennial anniversary, the Register spoke with several former Red Devils on why ACC retains a special place in their hearts. Today, we speak to Neil Crane.)
Lots of diehard sports fans can recall basketball coaching legend Bob Knight’s infamous chair toss, when he hurled a plastic chair across the court after he was whistled for a technical foul.
What nobody knows was that almost immediately after that infamous February 1985 loss to Purdue, Knight boarded a plane from Bloomington, Ind., and flew to Iola.
The purpose was a recruiting trip. On Knight’s wish list was Allen’s Lannell Moore, a dynamic inside-outside player known for his blend of intelligence and athleticism.
Roberta Crane, Neil’s wife, remembered the scene vividly as the ACC crowd realized a celebrity was in their midst.
“I saw him standing in the hallway, outside the gymnasium,” Roberta recalled. “I told him we had a seat for him.”
“No, ma’am,” Knight replied politely, but sternly. “You keep that seat. I can see everything I need from right here.”
Coach Crane and Knight met after the game at a fellow Allen instructor’s house for dinner and drinks.
“I had a good relationship with him for a while,” Crane recalled.
But when Moore signed elsewhere, “it got pretty dicy,” Crane laughed. “But it happens. It always does with coaches.”
The scene was one of several special memories for Coach Crane over his 21-year coaching career.
Crane, 84, father of ACC women’s coach Leslie Crane, won 401 games as a college coach, including more than 300 at the helm of the Red Devils during his tenure from 1975 to 1990.
“That was the best 15 years of my life,” Crane said. “I had great players, and I worked with great people. The best years of my life have been here at Allen County.”
SMALL TOWN, BIG DREAMS
Crane grew up in Gridley, and like many his age, spent every waking hour playing — or dreaming — sports.
