Knox in the News

Comedian Stephen Colbert defends his right to practice medicine, courtesy of his honorary doctorate in fine arts from Knox College.

View the video clip on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report.

Knox-Galesburg Symphony announces its annual Young Pianists Competition winners and the winners’ recital.

Excerpt:

Winners in the Knox-Galesburg Symphony’s 14th Annual Young Pianists Competition will perform a free public recital at 3 p.m. May 20 in Kresge Recital Hall, Ford Center for Fine Arts, at Knox College.

Read the full story in the Register-Mail.

The Quad City Times notes Knox College’s plans for Commencement.

Excerpt:

National media attention again will focus on Knox College in Galesburg this summer.

Former president Bill Clinton will give the college’s commencement address June 2, making it the third straight year a celebrity speaker has graced the campus.

Stephen Colbert, star of Comedy Central’s ‘The Colbert Report,’ spoke in 2006, and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) spoke in 2005….

Mr. Clinton accepted last December. The only other U.S. president to have been awarded an honorary degree from Knox is Abraham Lincoln, who was honored in 1860 prior to taking office.

‘The students have always thought big,’ Ms. Heartlein said, noting the junior class officers poll their classmates the year before their graduation. ‘They have high expectations. They’re not afraid to ask for the people, for the speakers that they want. I have to give them a lot of credit.’

Read the Quad City Times online.

Galesburg historian Tom Wilson traces the roots of local athletes “Pete” Boynton and his father “Gabby.”

Excerpt:

Upon graduation from Knoxville High in 1934, Elery entered Knox College. While a student at Knox he participated in football, basketball and track. While quarterbacking the freshmen football team he guided the yearlings to an 8-6 upset of the Knox varsity. He participated for Knox in the only scoreless tie in history with Monmouth College in 1938, the only one to play the entire 40 minutes. In 1936 he scored a last second basket to beat Monmouth in basketball 22-20.

Upon graduation from Knox College he started his coaching career at Princeton High School, serving six years as athletic director. Boynton coached four years at Galva High School, producing 13 championship teams, two in football, four in basketball and seven in track. In 1948, when longtime Knox College basketball coach Dean Trevor stepped down to become athletic director, he called upon Elery Boynton to coach the “Siwasher” basketball and track teams. The appointment allowed Elery to come full circle at Knox College as an outstanding student athlete and cumulating with the honor of being invited to coach his alma mater….

If many of you are not familiar with Elery and his son Robert, it may be that you would be more familiar with “Gabby” and his son “Pete” Boynton. Elery was nicknamed “Gabby” after Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett.

Read the full story in the Register-Mail.

Robin Metz, Philip Sidney Post Professor of English at Knox College, will deliver the commencement address at Carl Sandburg College on May 10, 2007.

Excerpt:

Carl Sandburg College’s 39th commencement will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Galesburg High School auditorium…..

Robin Metz of Knox College will give the commencement address.

Metz is Philip Sidney Post Professor of English at Knox College and long-time director of Knox’s nationally acclaimed program in Creative Writing. At Knox he has won two Philip Green Wright Awards for distinguished teaching and the Caterpillar Corporation Award for outstanding creative achievement.

Read the full story in the Register-Mail.

Excerpt from the Register-Mail:

During May 1941 a Knox College coed turned in a miraculous score in National Archery. Shirley Hartwig turned in a score of 71-607 during the shooting of the Annual Women’s Intercollegiate Telegraphic Tournament while participating on the college Archery course at Green Oaks near Victoria. Hartwig’s score was considered comparable to bowling a perfect 300 game.

As a result of Hartwig’s fine shooting, the Knox College team took fourth place in the national standings and first place in the Midwest district.

Read Tom Wilson’s history column in the Register-Mail.