Knox College Athletics

Today Robert J. “Sam” Malley calls Florida his home, but this class of 1947 graduate will always call Knox College and Illinois his home as well.

Sam was an Economics major at Knox and served in the United States Army from 1943-1936, including two years of active duty in France.  Like many Knox veterans of World WarII, his college education was abruptly interrupted, but it did not prevent him from returning to Galesburg to complete his education.  While at Knox he earned three letters in basketball and football and freshman numerals in both sports.  He played end on the football team and was recognized as an outstanding receiver.  He was a starting forward on the basketball squad, remembered as a strong rebounder, scorer, and passer.  He was a member of the 1946-47 Co-Mid-West Conference championship team with Beloit.  Sam’s rebound and pass to teammate Jim Pogue, who scored the winning basket at the end of double overtime against Monmouth, helped give Knox a share of the title.

Sam went to become Vice President of J.W. Stahl Construction Company for fourteen years.  He then moved to the south where he became Vice president of Pied Piper, Incorporated, a land development company in Florida.

Not even his wife, Jacqueline Stahl Malley, a 1848 Knox graduate, or their three children, Michael, Patricia and Mary, can slow Sam today, as he remains active in the Easter Seal program, the Melbourne Beach advisory Committee for the Catholic Church, the Melbourne Kidney Center Advisory, and the Senior Citizens Housing Program.  He has actively supported his alma mater, particularly the Office of Alumni Affairs in various ways since his graduation.

A few years ago Sam coordinated the recognition and memory of “Chef” Hendricks and “Deacon” Allen, the men in charge of food preparation at Knox for over four decades.  In the words of his classmate and Friend, Tom Howes, Sam’s efforts “resulted in an outpouring of affection for these two chefs from the old Knox alums that warmed the hearts of everyone concerned.”