Tony Knap

The oldest son of Polish immigrants, Knap was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and graduated from Riverside High School (a.k.a. East), where he was an All-City selection in football in 1934.[5] Along with three other Milwaukee freshman, he accepted a football scholarship to the University of Idaho in Moscow and played on the Vandals freshman team in the fall of 1935,[6][7] then lettered for three seasons (1936–38) on the varsity under head coach Ted Bank.[8][9][10] Among his UI teammates were future head coaches and administrators Lyle Smith[11] and Steve Belko.[12] Other teammates included future Idaho athletic director Leon Green,[13] and NFL pros George "Iron Man" Thiessen (Rams),[14][15] Stonko Pavkov (Steelers),[16] Dean Green (Eagles),[17] Richard "Truck" Trzuskowski (Lions),[18] and Hal Roise (Bears).

As a senior in 1938,[10][19] Knap was a second-team All-Coast selection at end,[18] the only Vandal to make any of the three teams.[20] The Vandals broke to an early 3–0–1 start in 1938 and there was early talk of the Rose Bowl in the national press.[21] Three conference losses later, the Vandals finished the season at 6–3–1 (.650), Idaho's last winning season for a quarter century;[22] not improved upon until 1971.

Knap was also a pitcher and utility player for three seasons on the varsity baseball team,[23][24][25] and a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.[1][26]

After earning a bachelor's degree in education in 1939,[1] Knap became a high school teacher and coach for three years in Bonners Ferry,[2][27][28] just south of Canada. While waiting for his military commission following the outbreak of World War II, he spent a fall at Lewiston High School in 1942 as an assistant under former Vandal teammate Steve Belko.[4][29] Knap served in the U.S. Navy, then returned to coaching after the war back in Idaho at Potlatch, near Moscow, and stayed with the Loggers until the summer of 1949.[30] He attended a summer coaching clinic in 1949 in the Bay Area and was offered a head coaching position at Pittsburg High School in Pittsburg, California. Knap accepted and moved his family south to northern California. He stayed at the East Bay school for ten years, through the 1958 season. His overall record as a high school coach was 109–22–6 (.818).[5]

Knap married Doris Adella "Mickey" McFarland (1920–2013), a former UI student born in St. Maries,[41][42] during his first year as a teacher. They were wed in April 1941 in Bonners Ferry and had three daughters: Jacqueline, Angeline, and Caroline.[42][43] In addition to his bachelor's degree, he also earned a master's degree from Idaho, completing it in 1953 while in California.[28] Following his retirement from coaching, Knap and his wife moved to Walla Walla, Washington in 1982.[29] They were married over 70 years when he died on September 24, 2011 at Bishop Place Retirement Center in Pullman; he was age 96 and had suffered for several years from Alzheimer's disease.[44] She died two years later at age 93, also in Pullman.[42]

• Tony Knap at Find a Grave