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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 27, ISSUE 5 66 his swing-from- the-heels approach to the game in his younger days, didn't play golf for five years, mostly due to his time in New York with Lavin. "My game is com- ing around," said Keady, who admits one of his biggest challenges during his 90-day stay in Lafayette is finding enough golf part- ners. "When you get old like me, you lose distance off the tee, but I now play the silver tees and I score OK." A recent interview led right into his golf game with fellow Boilermaker legend Leroy Keyes. Tomorrow, as they say, it will be with some- one else wanting to spend time with the coach. There seems to be no shortage of that these days. Keady's extended stay in West Lafayette is a great opportunity to spend a little more time with the many friends he developed during his quarter century at Pur- due. But at Keady's stage in life, he welcomes the opportu- nity to have fun with the past while looking ahead to the future. That's a reason that his greatest rival has become one of his better friends. Knight and Keady, who talk about once a week on the phone, have a lot of memories and glory to share. True, the pair always had respect for each other during their "20 Years War" when Keady posted a 21-20 record against Knight from 1981-2000. But now they are becom- ing almost a tag team together, spreading their message of college basketball morality. "When you spend time with the two of them, you can see why they get along," said Hall of Fame sportswriter Bob Hammel, who covered Knight for the entirety of his three-decade stint in Bloomington. "They have common values when it comes to coaching, politics and the way things should be done. "And they are pretty good at poking fun at each other." Hammel, who serves as moderator at the Knight- Keady events that first began at the Purdue Ag Alumni Fish Fry in February 2016, recalled a story he heard the two tell on their occasions together about when Knight chided Keady on the sidelines when both coaches were getting on the same ref at the same time. "You don't see that very often, when both coaches are complaining about a call at the same time," Hammel said. "But nothing is off limits when they are up there in front of the crowd. Not 'the chair incident' or Gene's former hairstyle, nothing." Hammel said even the fan bases have mellowed on the vitriol aimed at one another. The Carmel event in late March had both fan bases well represented, and they too got along well. Tom Campbell Gene Keady was honored in January with a Bobblehead Night, as he continues his run as elder statesman of Boilermaker basketball.