Knox College Athletics

Evan Massey graduated from Savanna High School in 1970 where he had been superior student and high scoring guard in the school’s basketball team. He played basketball at Knox for four years where his primary contributions were as a role player. Evan was a “eager student of the game, “said his coach at Knox, Harley Knosher. His leadership skills and knowledge of the game lead Knosher to name him as Head Women’s Varsity Basketball Coach at Knox during his senior year.
 
After becoming a teacher at Galesburg High School, Evan was offered the head coaching position of the Silver Streaks girls’ team in 1978. Since then, he has, become one of the most successful high school basketball coaches in the state of Illinois and even throughout the nation. “He is,” says Knosher, “the most successful coach to ever graduate from Knox College. All of us at Knox take tremendous pride in everything he’s accomplished and the way he’s handled himself.”

During this tenure at GHS, Massey’s teams have won over 500 games and he has taken the Streaks to nine straight Sweet 16 appearances in the state tournament. This run of success has included seven trips to the Elite 8. His teams have won eleven Western Big 6 conference title and his 1998-9 team finished the season with an all time school best record of 33-2.
 
Former Knox basketball player, Cammi Heimann, who played for Massey at Galesburg High, attributes her former coach’s success to his positive approach to the game. “Everything he does is positive,” she says. “He makes players want to work.” In 1997, he was selected by the National Federation of Coaches as State Coach of the Year. In 2000, he was elected into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame and the same year was inducted into the Galesburg High Athlete Hall of fame. Massey is also a past recipient of the Outstanding Educator Award from the Galesburg Jaycees. As chair of the GHS social studies department, he is a highly regarded faculty members who emphasizes the importance of community service to all of his students.
 
Last summer Massey was quoted in the press as saying, “The older I get, the more I appreciate my Knox education. I would not be where I am today without a Knox education.” Please join me in recognizing Evan Massey, teacher, coach and community role model as a 2003 inductee into the Knox-Lombard Athletic Hall of Fame.