Some of you may recall Ted "Rock" Knapp. He frequented the boards a few years ago and went through multiple cancer treatments as well as other health complications. He's pictured above with his son Nile Kinnick Knapp at the Outback Bowl in 2009
Rock went home to his Savior last night as a result of cardiac arrest. He made known his unwavering faith in Jesus Christ, his love for his wife of 35 years, Shari, and his family. He wasn't shy about his love of the Hawkeyes either. As a football coach he won multiple Texas High School Championships in the private school category.
Rock Knapp began his coaching career in 1980. As a head high school football coach, he amassed a 144-39-1 record, and won nine state championships. He was named Coach of the Year several times, including the prestigious 1998 Texas High School Private School Coach of the Year. He also coached the Louisiana Bayou Beast in the Arena Football League, and the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Canadian Football League.
Coach Rock was forced to retire in 2008 due to a diagnosis of two terminal illnesses. In his final year, his second season at Sherwood Christian Academy, he led his Eagles to their first winning season in 23 years and their first-ever state playoffs. He was selected the Albany Herald Coach of the Year; all while enduring intense chemotherapy three times a week.
Born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1956, his family later moved to the cornfields of Kankakee, Illinois. “Teddy” began playing organized tackle football at age 4. In high school he was a star athlete in football, basketball and track, and was named the Notre Dame Club of Chicago Player of the Year in 1974. He attended Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Wisconsin, where he was voted 3 times to the All-Conference First Team at middle linebacker.
He began fund raisers for cancer research, spoke at churches and school chapels, and had a radio program in Atlanta, Georgia
Farewell Rock. See you later.
