Knox College Athletics

Paul Block graduated from Knox College as one of its greatest all around thletes.  At the time of his graduation he had earned more varsity letters than any Knox athlete exept Adoph “Ziggy” Hamblin.  He earned three letters each in basketball, football, and baseball.
               
Not only did he letter in three sports, he achieved excellence in all three sports.  In football he was named to an All-American team.  In basketball, while leading the Siwash as a Center, he was selected captain.  Block was a pitcher in baseball of such ability that he went on to play semi-professional baseball.
 
              
 From newspaper accounts of the period, it appears that Paul Block’s outstanding abilities did not go unnoticed by the press of the general public.  After he had graduated in 1931 he came back to play with an alumni team against the Siwash varsity of that year.  A Galesburg Register mail featured Block with headlines before his first game, “ All-Round Siwash Star Has Chance in Semi-Pro Ball; Fan’s Await Game with Interest.”  Even in his time people recognized that Paul Block was something extraordinary.
               
               
Paul was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity while at Knox.  After graduation he was involved in sales and management positions with American Chicle Company in New York.  At the time of his death in 1978 he was employed by Block Farms near Gilson.