Good synopsis of what happened. Insane that Kermit Washington only got suspended 26 games and faced no criminal charges. He literally came back to play before Rudy recovered.
There was a similar situation in European football (1981) and the injured one (Ewald Lienen) sued the other guy (Norbert Siegmann) not to return to the fields before he recuperated. It should be norm. If you injure someone you should be kept away from the sport at least until the victim returns.
I agree, except I don't know if I would have enforced that proposed rule against Markieff Morris. The Morris exception.
Calvin Murphy and Rudy T were best friends on the Rockets, I read in Rudy's book that Calvin (a golden glove boxer) was so mad at Kermit that he ran down to beat the hell out of him. Calvin said when he got there he saw Rudy's face up close it momentarily incapacitated him.
Agreed! Rudy talks about it in his biography, A Rocket at Heart as well, but I don't think people here read, like at all. Definitely not books. They barely seem to comprehend posts here, if that.
Kermit was blackballed: https://www.chron.com/sports/rockets/article/Rudy-T-Washington-move-beyond-The-Punch-2111356.php Later convicted of fraud, served time and released in 2022: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_Washington
I still love this dude for stopping (sorta) to shake my hand in the bleachers at the Summer Leagues after I said "thanks for the championships, Rudy!" like a dork. lol. A true Rockets legend.
I met Rudy not too long after the punch, (I went to his camps and played OUT with him -- a version of HORSE, you dorks), and he was still so shook about it. All the b-ball camp counselors told you: no mention, in any way shape or form. Just could not talk about it for many years, from what I understand. I still can't really watch the footage. On the Kermit suspension, it was just a different time. People got into fights, and more real fights, more commonly back then. Remember Hakeem just sucker punching Paultz. Or Sampson in the '86 finals versus Jerry Sichting (sp) ... (start around 1:18)
Fights also policed the players from dirty tactics. They knew if they pulled some shady stuff that someone would get them sort of like the pitching inside in MLB.
Another thing that led to a punch a scrum broke out between Rockets center Kevin Kunnert and Kareem Abdul-Jabaar at mid court. Rudy was known as a peacemaker so if something broke out he would always try and break up a fight and keep the peace. Kermit Washington has always said he hurt someone running up behind him and thought they were going to hit him and he just turned and punched.
