Landon Turner

Landon Montel Turner (born September 30, 1960) is an American former basketball player. He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers and won an NCAA championship as a junior in 1981. Hoosiers head coach Bob Knight considered Turner to have the potential to be the best player he ever coached. Primed for a breakthrough senior season and considered to become a top pick in the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft, Turner's basketball career came to an end when he was paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident in July 1981. He stayed with the Hoosiers as a team captain during the 1981–82 season before the Boston Celtics honored Turner by selecting him as the final pick of the 1982 NBA draft. He played wheelchair basketball for three years before he embarked on a career as a motivational speaker. Turner is a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and the Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame.

Early life Turner was born on September 30, 1960, Turner considers his father to be his biggest influence as an athlete. He grew from during his freshman year to in his sophomore year, when he also developed the ability to slam dunk. During his senior season, Turner emerged as a star prospect and set an Arsenal Tech season record for points with 616 while he averaged 21.4 points and 15.8 rebounds per game. Turner was named a Parade All-American and played in the 1978 McDonald's All-American Game as the only player from Indiana.

College career Turner received 300 letters of college offers, His father was a fan of the Hoosiers and their head coach Bob Knight, and Turner committed to play for the Hoosiers under Knight in the fall of 1978. Knight thought Turner could be the best player he coached and the greatest Hoosiers player ever but became increasingly frustrated by his lack of growth. Turner persisted with the Hoosiers but his grades dropped as he attended parties instead of studying, which led to his benching by Knight during his junior season.

Paralysis On the morning of July 25, 1981, Turner was driving on Indiana State Road 46 near Columbus, Indiana, when he lost control of his car on a curve in the road and flipped it. He was driving to the Kings Island amusement park in Ohio with three friends, who were all also injured in the crash. Turner had not been wearing a seat belt when he crashed. Turner was taken to Bartholomew County Hospital in Columbus before he was transferred to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital later that same day. He was also visited in hospital by Thomas, who remarked to teammate Randy Wittman: "If I knew this was going to happen, I wouldn't have left". Knight organized a campaign to establish the Landon Turner Trust Fund that helped raise $400,000 to pay for Turner's medical bills. Thomas staged an all-star basketball game in 1981 that helped raise an additional $90,000. Knight considered the gesture "a beautiful thing" by the Celtics and subsequently called Auerbach "one of the class people in sports."

Upon the insistence of Knight, Turner returned to Indiana University Bloomington (IU) to complete his physical education degree in 1983. He played wheelchair basketball for three years but quit because he did not have the same love for the game.

Turner was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.

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