The events that spring boarded John Feinstein's career

On Feb. 25, 1985, Indiana met Purdue at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana for a late-season Big Ten basketball game between two middling teams. The game, a 72-63 win for Purdue, would have been nothing out of the ordinary if not for one defining moment.

A little more than five minutes into the game, Indiana head coach Bob Knight, irate with the officiating, picked up his red chair and flung it across the court. Knight would be publicly chastised for his antics in the days that followed.

John Feinstein saw the ordeal unfold. He also saw a story.

Feinstein acknowledged that throwing a chair was crazy. But compared to other chicanery being committed in college basketball, it wasn’t a huge deal. Knight read the story and thanked Feinstein for telling both sides.

The two had dinner, and the idea of Feinstein writing a book about Knight’s team came up. One season, full access. Knight agreed.

What followed became the best-selling sports book of all time – “A Season on the Brink.” It catapulted Feinstein to becoming one of the most prolific sports writers of his generation.

But going into college, journalism wasn’t even his biggest priority.

Before the days of Mike Krzyzewski, or the Cameron Crazies were ever labeled as crazy, Feinstein attended Duke University in 1973.

He went to college a swimmer, but suffered a broken ankle during his freshman year. So he decided to try sports writing at the student newspaper, The Duke Chronicle.

He didn’t start in sports. His editor when he arrived at The Chronicle was Ann Pelham, a “very attractive” woman, as he recalls. She told him he would have to begin as a news writer.

“If Ann Pelham had told me if I was serious about journalism I should jump off the top of the building, I probably would have done it,” Feinstein said.

Feinstein covered the football and basketball teams his sophomore year. He loved everything about the work – the reporting, getting to know people, breaking stories and, of course, the writing.

“He developed a very broad definition of what sports reporting is,” Pelham said. “John understood early on that what makes it interesting, and challenging, is understanding what’s going on behind the scenes.”

Feinstein’s goal was to secure a position with The Washington Post. The Post gave him his shot. He was hired as an intern covering sports after his senior year.

He was offered a full-time role with the paper at the conclusion of the internship. He was hired as the night police reporter, what he calls “one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

It led to him being transferred to Prince George’s County, Maryland. His supervisor was Bob Woodward – one of the reporters who broke the Watergate story. Woodward became a mentor to Feinstein.

Woodward characterized Feinstein as strong and confident as a reporter. He was blown away by how fast and meticulously he conducted his work. And Feinstein was never afraid to push back against the editors.

“All good work is done in defiance of management,” Woodward said. “And he (Feinstein) is an embodiment of that. No one was going to push him around.”

But his stay in hard news was short lived. Against Woodward’s advice, Feinstein moved to the sports desk after two years.

“You’re too good for sports reporting,” Woodward told him.

A few years afterwards, Feinstein found himself in Bloomington, Indiana that fateful February day.

“Overall, I’ve been pretty damn lucky,” Feinstein said.

Some would argue that luck has little to do with it.

Since publishing his first book, Feinstein has penned 34 more books, in addition to writing sports columns for The Post. He has never been afraid to follow his stories, no matter where they take him. From the small, rickety gyms of the Patriot League, to the bright lights of the Final Four – Feinstein has covered it all.

And even in an era of evolution in journalism, Feinstein has never been mesmerized by the allure of television. He is a sports writer at heart; as pure as they come.

“It’s (television) not journalism. It just isn’t,” Feinstein said. “And journalism is what I do.”