Knox College Athletics

We are delighted to honor Tom Crabbe's many accomplishments as a student athlete at Knox and to salute the life he led on and off the playing fields.  Tom had a truly remarkable career as a 3 sport athlete competing in football, basketball, and baseball.
           
He was raised by his mother in New London, Iowa, where he excelled as a high school student athlete.  Financial resources in his family were scarce, but he managed to find a way to work himself through college.  He did so while competing successfully in inter-collegiate athletics and participating in a host of campus organizations.  Before his athletic career was over, he captained all 3 of the teams he played on.  He was a hard-hitting and sure-handed outfielder on the baseball diamond.  On the gridiron he played fullback on offense and was called the hardest hitting tackler on defense.  He started at guard on the hard court which included a year on the Mid-West Conference championship basketball team of 1922.
           
He was elected president of the Student Council, was a member of Glee Club, the K-Club, Friars, and the Knox Players Club.  He was also a member of Beta Theta Pi, eventually serving as president of his fraternity.
           
Following his graduation from Knox, he returned to Iowa where he established Thomas L. Crabbe Investments and Securities, Inc. in Cedar Rapids.  His community service mirrored his many achievements as a Knox student.  He was president of the Lions' Club, a founding member of the Cedar Rapids Athletic Officials' Association, and in 1968 was inducted into the Iowa Officials' Hall of Fame.