The Punch - One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever (Electronic book text)

When a fight broke out between the Houston Rockets and the L.A. Lakers one night in 1977, All-Star Rudy Tomjanovich raced to break it up. He was met by Kermit Washington's fist, which delivered one of the most ferocious punches ever seen in sports. The punch dislodged Tomjanovich's skull, and required years of surgeries and therapy to get him back to normal. He was never the same again. Washington was an average player for the Lakers, 6 foot 8, and one of six athletes in the history of the NCAA to be both an academic all-American and a basketball all-American. By all accounts he was an exemplary man, but the split second in which he threw his fist toward Tomjanovich devastated his reputation. Every team in the NBA has refused to hire him in any coaching capacity. Tomjanovich, on the other hand, is a star: head coach of the two-time world championship Rockets, and coach of the 2000 gold medal US Olympic team.With his unique insight, style, and bone-deep knowledge of basketball, John Feinstein finally reveals the truth of that night, and how it changed basketball forever. Through this one cataclysmic event he casts a light on the NBA's darkest secrets, exploring race, violence, and how one mistake has haunted two good men for 25 years.