Knox College Athletics

When Karen Harris arrived on the Knox campus in the late 1960's, womens' intercollegiate athletics did not exist on our campus.  Indeed, the sole organized sport for women was synchronized swimming.  Karen convinced Phyllis Pedote, the only female member of the PE faculty then, to help organize and coach a newly formed women's basketball team.  The were no girls' high school basketball teams in Illinois then, but Karen had played for the Peoria AAU team before coming to Knox.  The first organized womens' team played only a few games that first year, but they did defeat Monmouth.  By the second year, a formal schedule was in place and Karen became the team's leading scorer until she graduated in 1973.  During Karen's career her teams never lost to Monmouth and Athletic Director, Harley Knosher, awarded these teams the "Monmouth Beaters" trophy.  It is not an exaggeration for Knox College to identify Karen Harris as the student most responsible for helping to bring about the re-establishment of competitive and later, intercollegiate athletics, at our school.
           
Karen graduated cum laude from Knox and went on to play in ASA national softball tournaments with the Pekin Letts and Wichita Arrows.  She also played in the Womens' Professional Softball League with the St. Louis Hummers.
           
Karen's professional accomplishments include both athletic and teaching awards.  She was the assistant softball coach at the University of Kansas during the 1970's when those teams advanced to the College World Series three times.  She co-authored, with Northwestern University's Sharon Drysdale, The Complete Handbook of Winning Softball.  She has coached high school basketball and softball teams that have produced many all-state and all-conference players.  She is currently a science teacher, dean and coach at Holland Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  In 1988 Karen was recognized at Knox's Founders' Day celebration with an outstanding Teaching Recognition Award.