Mark McIntosh, a two-sport athlete who played football and baseball, graduated from Knox in 1972. He was a wide receiver and punter for the football team and an outfielder for the baseball team. Mark was named to five All-Midwest Conference teams during his career.
Mark helped lead the Knox football team to a 6-3 overall record and a 5-3 mark in the Midwest Conference in 1970, the first winning season since 1956. He shared team-high honors with 339 yards receiving and four touchdowns. Mark also led the squad with 32 punts for 1,028 yards -- an average of 32.1 yards per punt.
Mark set two records at wide receiver in 1969 and 1970. He led the team with 38 receptions for 549 yards and four touchdowns in 1969. His 549 receiving yards set a new all-time Knox football mark. The second record was his 16.9 average yards per catch in 1970.
Mark also led the football team in receiving and punting during the 1971 season. He had 28 receptions for 440 yards and five touchdowns and punted 45 times for 1,052 yards -- including a long kick of 56 yards – for an average of 33.4 yards per punt.
Mark was named All-Midwest Conference Second Team Offense as a wide receiver in 1971. He still owns seven Knox football all-time top 10 records: #6 best average yards per catch in a career (15.4), #6 most touchdowns receiving in a career (13), #6 fewest catches to 1,000 yards (66), #10 career receiving yards (1,328), #6 most punts in a career (119), #8 most yards punting in a career (3,927), and #8 best average yards per punt in a career (33.0).
“(Mark) was an outstandingly gifted athlete as a wide receiver and punter during his time at Knox,” said former teammate Topper Steinman ’70, a 1998 Knox-Lombard Athletic Hall of Fame inductee.
“He was instrumental in turning a losing football program for many years into a winning program. The same attributes that served Mark well in football – his enthusiasm, his competitiveness, his part-of-a-team focus, his many personal and interpersonal talents and characteristics – served him well as a student and as a person. Mark personifies the quality definition of a student/athlete. He knew how to work and excel in both domains.”
In addition to his football achievements, Mark was a three-year starter for the Knox baseball team.
He led the team in hits (23) and batted .418 with two home runs and 14 RBI in 1971. Mark helped guide Knox to a 9-6 record, including an 8-3 mark and a second place finish in the Midwest Conference Southern Division.
Mark batted .313 with one home run and a team-high 14 RBI in 1972. He was named All-Midwest Conference Southern Division as an outfielder in 1970, 1971, and 1972.
Mark was awarded the K Club Award in 1971, the Hilding Prize in 1972, and the Hunter Trophy in 1972.
Mark and his wife Lynn, class of 1971, sent four sons to Knox and he is currently Professor and Chairman, Director of DNA Core Facility, Veterinary Pathobiology and Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Missouri.
