Longtime Fort Wayne referee Tom Knox will be remembered for his flair and his care
Apr 9, 2018Courtesy photo)Tom Knox, left, officiates a youth football game. (Courtesy photo)Tom Knox. (Courtesy photo)A newspaper clipping about Tom Knox, left, and his son Ronald. (Courtesy photo)Tom Knox. (Courtesy photo) Tom Knox, right, officiates a basketball game early in his career. (Courtesy photo) Tom Knox, left, officiates a youth football game. (Courtesy photo) Tom Knox. (Courtesy photo) A newspaper clipping about Tom Knox, left, and his son Ronald. (Courtesy photo) Tom Knox. (Courtesy photo) Joe Jordan was a seventh-grade basketball player the first time he met referee Tom Knox. Jordan, now president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Fort Wayne, remembers he had scored about 20 points and was feeling good about his play when Knox pulled him aside after the game.“Young fella, you have to work on your right hand,” Knox said, as Jordan remembers it. “You can’t go left all your life.”To Jordan, the moment captures what made Knox a special referee, but even more a special person. Knox loved sports, he loved officiating – to the point of making it part of the show – but most of all he loved passing knowledge along.“When I think about Tom Knox, I think about longevity and consistency as a role model, not only for me but for a lot of people in the community, specifically African American males,” Jordan said. “He was a consistent, long-time role model for us. He’d always have these nuggets of wisdom.”Knox, 82, died Friday after a long illness.If you played, coached or watched sports around Fort Wayne from the 1960s until a few years ago, you saw Knox call a game. He officiated basketball, football and baseball, was a founding member of Metro Youth Sports and even spent a brief period officiating in the American Basketball Association. He was honored by the IHSAA for distinguished service in 1988.A native of Beckley, W.Va., Knox moved to Fort Wayne as a freshman and was an all-state football and basketball player at Fort Wayne Central High School. An injured knee limited his post-high school opportunities, he told Fro... (News Sentinel)
