Richmond’s Thomas Jefferson High School and Virginia Commonwealth University basketball fans remember Lamont C. “Monty” Knight as the silky smooth guard who lit up the scoreboard with his high-hanging jump shot.

He also could light up a room with his warm smile.

Mr. Knight was an All-Metro player under Coach Dave Robbins at Thomas Jefferson High.

During his four seasons at VCU, the Rams had an admirable 79-33 win-loss record with two NCAA Tournament appearances, including its first ever NCAA Tournament berth in the 1979-80 season.

“He was an outstanding player,” said Coach Robbins.

Mr. Knight is being remembered following his death Sunday, March 15, 2015. He was 54.

He died the same day VCU won the Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament to earn an automatic berth in the 2015 NCAA Tournament.

“This evening VCU won a championship and lost a champion,” his friend, Brian Dyer, posted on Facebook.

Another former Rams basketball great, Pastor Calvin Duncan of Faith and Family Church in Chesterfield County, will lead a memorial service for Mr. Knight at noon Saturday, March 21, 2015, at the church, 7900 Walmsley Blvd.

The family will receive friends from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, March 20, 2015, at the church.

“Monty had been a guard for us until his senior year,” Coach Robbins recalled. “He was 6-foot-3 and I asked him to play center that year. He gave of himself for the team. He said that helped him to become tougher as a guard once he got to VCU.”

Mr. Knight was a transformative cog in the VCU program that set the foundation for today’s Shaka Smart-coached Rams who are a top 25 fixture and perennial NCAA Tournament participant.

He ranks 10th on the Rams’ all-time scoring list, scoring 1,549 points from 1978 through 1982 and averaging 13 points per game.

Mr. Knight was an assistant coach under Coach Robbins after he graduated from VCU.

“He was a go-getter and very innovative,” Coach Robbins said.

Mr. Knight later became a pastor and founded an outreach program in Richmond known as Athletes for Jesus that he ran for 14 years.

Mr. Knight also was an assistant coach at VCU before he founded Athletes for Jesus.

In 2004, Mr. Knight was sentenced to serve 11 years in prison after he and three other men were convicted of fraud for running a Ponzi scheme.

When he went to prison, Mr. Knight helped other inmates study, read and write, Coach Robbins said. He was released in November 2009 and most recently was living in Northern Virginia.

“Monty was a good, good person,” Coach Robbins added. “He made a mistake and he paid for it, but he also helped a lot of people along the way as well.”

Mr. Knight is survived by two daughters, Elizabeth and Vicky; one son, Gabriel; and a sister, Debra Berliner.