Beloit College

Going to high school in Taylorville, one heard of all the achievements of THS basketball. We heard of the greatness of coach Stanley and his players, several of whom went on to Beloit College. When I had the opportunity to enroll at Beloit, I felt very honored to be at an institution with a great educational and athletic background.
 
Upon graduation from high school I received an athletic scholarship at the University of Colorado. I came home from Boulder after six weeks and eventually enrolled at Beloit in 1954. We respected and admired coach Stanley. There was no question as to his knowledge of the game and his ability to impart that knowledge to his players. We enjoyed the success that we had under his leadership and looked forward to our upcoming senior year.
 
We were devastated to learn of his departure to Drake University as Athletic Director. We wondered who was to be his successor.
           
When learning the hiring of Bill Knapton, we obviously did not know exactly what to expect. We knew that he was coming from Marquette University where he was an assistant in a very successful Division One program. That gave us reason to hope for success.
 
During Coach Knapton’s first season we lost our first three games. He called some of us in and asked us to share with him the offense and defense we had previously played. He included some of this in the program and we improved. I give him a lot of credit for adapting to us. It illustrated that he was not an egotist and respected our input into the program. In turn we learned to respect him greatly as the season progressed.