Knox College Athletics

This 1938 graduate is the member of a family with numerous connections to Knox College throughout the 20^th century.  Bob Gunther earned three letters in football and three letters in track as a student at Knox.  He utilized his great speed as a pass receiver despite injuries his junior and senior years.  During his senior year he played with all Christansen for whom the Knox-Lombard Athletic Hall of Fame is named.  ON the track team he is remembered primarily as an outstanding relay man.
               
Bob’s undergraduate days at Knox included a phenomenal range of extra-curricular activities.  He wrote for the student newspaper, was active in Scabbard and Blade, the K-Club, and the Athletic Board.  He also served as president of his fraternity, Tau Kappa Epsilon.  His academic achievements were second to none as he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and served as College Marshall.  Additional academic honors included selection to Sitma Xi and Phi Lambda Upsilon.
                               
After graduation he earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois.  During the second World War he attained the rank of Major and was attached to the chemical warfare service at M.I.T.  Following the War, he worked for General Aniline an Film corporation in Pennsylvania and then returned to Galesburg where the brothers Gungther Bob and Ken, established Gunther Products, a company that came to be recognized nationally and internationally as specialists in the creation of proteins for the foot industry.
                               
Bob has served the Galesburg community in various capacities including president of the Y.M.C.A. and Soangetaha Country Club.  He is also past president of the Knox College Alumni Association.  He has returned to Knox campus as a speaker at the Founder’s Day celebration and the ground-breaking ceremonies for the Umbeck Mathematics and Science Building.  His wife, Betty Jane Madison Gunther, is a 1943 Knox graduate.