Steve Knight (2002) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Steve Knight

Induction:
2002

One and all knew him as simply “Bone” because of his long, lanky physique.
After a brilliant basketball and baseball career at Hattiesburg High School where he played on a state championship basketball team in 1974, Knight as you would expect elected to come to Southern Miss, although his skills and abilities afforded an opportunity to go many other places.
Steve was a four-year letterman as a right-handed pitcher for Coach Pete Taylor and as a sophomore in 1975 he posted a one of the lowest earned run averages in a season with a 0.98 mark.
He would finish his four-year career working 135 innings with eight victories and 10 complete games. Although he could be overpowering at times with his fast ball, it was his ability to mix up his variety of pitches, change speeds and out-think the batters that made him so difficult to hit.
Even though there was as much emphasis on baseball as there is today and no conference championship to play for, few who watched him compete in the late 1970s doubt that he would have been just as effective, maybe more so in today’s era of baseball.
One distinction he holds is that he is the last individual pitcher to pitch a no-hitter, which he did on March 29, 1976 at the USM Diamond against North Park College winning 18-0.
Steve was determined to use all of his skills and abilities to be successful and although his dream was still to perhaps one day make it to the major leagues, it was probably about this time that he decided coaching might be in his future one day.
He always had a thinking man’s approach to the game, but it was during his final couple of seasons he began to really study the game and its finer points, that would one day pay big dividends.
After he completing his career at Southern Miss he signed a free agent contract with the Seattle Mariners and pitched for several seasons in their minor league system.
Since the early 1980s he has worked at William Carey College here in Hattiesburg, where he currently serves as head basketball coach and athletic director. His basketball teams at William Carey have been some of the most successful in school history winning numerous conference and district championships and making several trips to the NAIA national tournament in Kansas City.
In his career at Carey, Steve has recorded nearly 400 victories and won six NAIA district championships and six Gulf Coast Athletic Conference championships. Seven times his teams have advanced to the NAIA National Tournament. Three times he has been named NAIA District 30 Coach of the Year and five times Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.
Thirteen times his teams have won 20 or more games and his teams have produced six NAIA All-American players and over 75-percent of his senior players have graduated.