NASHVILLE— Our Sandwich Place has been in Nashville, Indiana for more than 50 years. During that time, it's become a place full of basketball history.
"Look at this. This is Coach Knight driving with a basketball in his lap," said Chery Ferguson, pointing out a wooden car.
Cheryl Ferguson used to own the restaurant. Her daughter Wendi Ellen Magana took it over two years ago.
"We really are big on tradition. My family is. It’s always been a tradition that this has been here with all the Bob Knight and IU memorabilia and we really wanted to continue that," said Magana.
A man named Larry Hawkins owned the restaurant when it opened in 1972. Hawkins developed a relationship with Bob Knight. Magana says they met at a reception for Knight and "really hit it off."
Magana says Knight would visit weekly when he lived in Bloomington and came back once a year after he left. Knight gave Hawkins a lot of the memorabilia.
"The last time he was here was in November of 2021," said Magana. "It was like my grandpa coming in."
"When he came here the last time he was a coach at Texas tech and he had gone off and left his cap right on the other side on the hook. I said to him coach last time you were here you forgot your cap do you want it back and he looked at the cap and he looked at him, and he looked back the cap and he looked at me and he said hell no," recalled Ferguson.
Even though Knight has passed, Feguson says stories of the legendary coach, and his impact on Indiana basketball, will still be shared at Our Sandwich place.
"Coach was a really inspiring guy, and the whole idea of discipline and working hard to accomplish a goal, which is why this is all a basketball place, we honor people who work hard to accomplish a goal," said Ferguson.
