Knox College Athletics

There is something about the nature of athletic achievement that lends itself to superlative comparable descriptions.  We are all familiar with statements like "no team was better than this one," "such and such a victory was the very best," or "this player was the greatest of them all."  These kinds of laudatory comparisons are probably inevitable but in the history of Knox College athletic competition, one individual achievement truly stands alone as the very best.  On a sunny day, May 27, 1989 in Naperville, Illinois, Mike Pankey stood with the NCAA Division IIIs top ranked runners at the starting line of the 400 meter run.  When the race was over he was a national champion.  His track coach at Knox, Randy Oberembt, reported back the exciting news that day saying, "Mike Pankey's national championship in the 400 meters is simply the greatest individual accomplishment in our school's athletic history."
           
Mike Pankey was a four-year letterwinner in track at Knox.  Throughout the course of his career, he showed steady improvement each season.  Beyond his individual events, he was an outstanding member of the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay teams.  Indeed, both of those relay teams took first place at the Midwest Conference meet his senior year.  At the same Conference track meet that season, he won the 200 and 400 meters and his 47.85 time in the 400 meters qualified him for the Division III nationals.  From there he went on to win the 400 meter run in a very close race (by only four one-hundredths of a second), finishing with a first place time of 47.43.  That time, of course, is still a Knox record.  Former Knox College athletic director, Harley Knosher, reflecting on this achievement later said, "As our only national champion, Mike personifies the excellence that all Knox athletes have sought to attain."
           
Following his undergraduate education, Mike entered the medical field and is now a registered nurse and nurse practitioner.  He currently resides with his family in Cape Coral, Florida.