Different from the image of the NBA at the present time, the most attractive basketball tournament on the planet has repeatedly faced terrible incidents of violence on the court. The scariest was probably the punch that took place in the 1977-78 season.
Exactly on December 9, 1977, during the match between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets, a fight broke out between Abdul-Jabbar of the Lakers and Kevin Kunnert of the Rockets, but they were not the main characters.
When Rockets’ Rudy Tomjanovich was approaching to stop the fight, he was suddenly punched in the face by opponent Kermit Washington. Being suddenly attacked, the 2m03 tall player fell to the floor in a pool of blood.
The punch almost took the life of a Houston Rockets player
“When Tomjanovich’s head hit the floor, it was like a watermelon had just been dropped on concrete,” Abdul-Jabbar recalled of the terrifying moment.
The Houston Rockets player was still able to get up. When he was being helped down the tunnel, he asked the perpetrator why he did that to him? But in return, Kermit Washington only shouted angrily and cursed.
Doctors later concluded that Kermit Washington’s punch caused the bone structure of Rudy Tomjanovich’s face to separate from the skull, causing concussion, a broken jaw, a broken nose, and blood and spinal cord fluid leaking into the skull. . Even the clear liquid in the spine had flowed into Tomjanovich’s mouth and he could… taste it!
“This was one of the most terrible accidents I’ve ever seen, the surgery was like putting back pieces of a broken egg,” Tomjanovich’s surgeon recalled.
After the horrific violence, the NBA banned Kermit Washington for 60 days, with a historic fine at that time: $10,000. As for Tomjanovich, he was forced to take the rest of the season off to treat an orthopedic injury.
As a price, Kermit Washington’s terrible punch caused his career to plummet. After that season, he parted ways with the Lakers and wandered to a few different teams, before ending his career in 1988, with his only achievement being reaching the 1980 All-Star.
Washington once shared that he really wanted to become a coach in the NBA, but the punch that year brought everything to a dead end. In everyone’s eyes, he just looked like a butcher who wanted to take other people’s lives.
As for Tomjanovich, after the death punch he came back and played 3 seasons before ending his career as a player. He later also made his mark as head coach of the Houston Rockets (1992-2003) and Los Angeles Lakers (2004-05).
After all, Kermit Washington admitted the mistake he made with Rudy Tomjanovich, they put aside their friction and now call each other brothers. But NBA fans probably still can’t forget that haunting punch.
